Heirs
by stormyheavens
Summary: Okay, so, maybe Izuku's Quirk wasn't exactly a Quirk. Maybe his tutor was more than a two centuries old hitman stuck in a baby body and maybe he was part of an ancient bloodline with contrived criminal history which desperately wanted him dead. Izuku intended to be a hero anyway.
1. Target: Midoriya Izuku

A/N: Izuku goes Hyper. World is not ready.

* * *

When Izuku flung his backpack at the Sludge Villain, he didn't have a quirk. What he had was indomitable will, old ring on the chain around his neck and his head on fire. Not that he was really aware of any of that.

Then Bakugou had to use his last breath to point that out, as if he didn't think Izuku would possibly do the dumbest thing he could given the circumstances.

Lunging forward, Izuku headbutted the Villain who'd tried to kill him, was currently killing Kacchan, all while thoughtlessly hoping that, if there was really fire burning on his head, at least it burned the villain away.

As if things really worked that way.

For a moment, all Izuku knew was headache, before the disgusting, familiar slime was back in his mouth. And screams.

 _Not mine._ The warmth at his chest also wasn't his, but while unfamiliar, it was comfortable. With a start, Izuku realized that there really was something burning on his head and it wasn't hurting him. But it sure as hell was keeping the villain from suffocating him to death. _How do I make it burn more?_

Then it was gone, all at once. The slime, the fire, the danger. Izuku's knees hit the ground, caught by Kamui Woods last second before his face hit the asphalt flat. In the ruins of a smoking city block, lightheaded, Izuku could still hear the victory cheers. _So it was All Might._ Hardly a surprise, really.

 _I still have to apologize…_

Kamui Woods kept him in place, and Izuku really didn't have the strength to resist. "Are you okay, kid?"

"Yeah. I'm okay."

* * *

Thing is, even hours later, if anyone asked, Izuku didn't know how he'd be able to describe his day. What started with Kacchan's typical bully tendencies turned into a near-death experience, turned into All Might, turned into broken dreams, turned into rescuing Kacchan from the already mentioned near-death experience. So, in a way, things came full circle.

And now he was locked in a heated argument with a group of pro heroes busy with not listening to him and claiming he could get in trouble for using his quirk.

"For the last time, I don't have a Quirk!" Izuku yelled, in borderline tears because this discussion was going nowhere, and he really wanted to go home, maybe wake up from the sheer insanity.

Then Kacchan hit him on the back of his head, passed him a phone he'd no doubt violently snatched from an innocent bystander. "Shut up, Deku." And there it was, clearly on the screen, Sludge Villain moving from Bakugou to Izuku – and screaming in pain while Izuku's forehead was most definitely on fire.

Izuku dropped the phone.

Kamui Woods caught it, adding property damage to a long list of things Izuku had already done wrong for the day, but words really weren't getting anywhere. All Might was also saying something about Quirks appearing in late teens too, but that was stupid. Quirks stopped appearing in adolescence around the time when second generation of Quirk users showed up. Izuku had checked, _many_ times.

In the end, heroes just ushered him home, All Might awkwardly tasking Bakugou of all people to make sure Izuku made it back home in one piece. In a distant corner of Izuku's mind, the one that made sure he didn't trip over his own feet, he wasn't sure which one of the two had more problems with the current arrangement. He decided on Kacchan, because most of Izuku was still in a state of borderline catatonia.

He snapped out of it by the time Bakugou dropped him in front of his apartment complex. "I have a Quirk." It came out as more of a question, really. Which was dumb, he'd seen evidence with his own eyes, _felt it_ , but whatever imaginary scenario where he discovered his Quirk he'd ever come up with, it wasn't this.

Bakugou punched him in the face.

"Yea, you have a Quirk, shitty Deku! Now get over yourself, cause you're still a piece of shit."

For all intents and purposes, that punch felt more like a slap back to reality, even if some dull throbbing stuck. Apparently, Izuku wasn't dreaming after all.

"Kacchan! I have a Quirk!"

And then Bakugou was kicking him in the ribs cause he did just actually try to hug Kacchan of all people, not that it really mattered, because Izuku had a Quirk now and maybe finally he could stop being useless Deku plus he was also really tired and hugging Kacchan at least meant he was still standing on his feet and not falling on his face.

"Get – off – me! Fucking hell! The fuck, Deku?!"

"I have a Quirk!"

Then his mom was up on the window and calling them in for dinner and everything was right with the world because after all this time, Midoriya Izuku had a Quirk.

Yeah. This is not that story.

What happened was, Bakugou shoved Izuku off his back, non-respectfully nodded at Inko, and ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. Inko cried a lake of tears, and with Izuku joining her, it eventually built up to a sea. An innocent soul posted a video online, blissfully unaware of the chain of events that such a meaningless and everyday action would set off.

What Izuku never noticed, and many, _many_ would, was the burned hole in the chest of his shirt. Underneath, warm and familiar against his skin, ancient ring rested, burning with the remnants of an orange flame. A single word was engraved in the ring.

 _Vongola_.

* * *

Half a world away, a family was in an uproar. How did this happen? How was it possible? Was it authentic? Or a prank? Maybe even a crazy coincidence? Those were just some of the hundreds of questions flying from person to person, from office to office. Rumors of credible evidence spread almost as fast, and before long, entirety of the executives were gathered in a single round room, dozens of screens lit with the beginnings of what was clearly an amateur video of a Villain incident that had only barely made the headlines.

After the video ended, room was silent as death.

Then slowly, somebody chuckled. Chuckle morphed into a cackle, long, drawn out and decidedly sinister. "Finally. Finally! Ladies, gentlemen. Seems our time has finally come! It's time for the Vongola family to take back what belongs to us!"

Weight of those words slowly settled on the many executives occupying the room. Uneasy air surrounded them, as if they all withered under the uncertainty. Could they truly believe in an amateur video from Japan? Even if it matched, frame by frame, the few demonstrations of the controversial Decimo's power?

"... We have to contact the Boss," somebody said.

And the sinister voice chuckled again. "Indeed."

* * *

A dimension away, spirits that used to be known as the guardians of the mafia law, stirred. In a dead world they inhabited, devoid of anything worth their attention, a beacon of light appeared. Power that had been repressed, suffocated and lost with time, but never truly forgotten, nudged for the first time in the past two centuries. It was a sign.

"Do you feel it, Jager-kun? Am I growing numb, or are the Dying Will flames burning again?"

"Vongola Sky ring is awake, alright." A grin split Jager's face in two. The light was gone, but its signature remained marked in Vindice's mind. No matter where it went, they would be able to find it again, for as long as it remained in use. It appeared that, after two hundred years, the sleeping giant had awoken once more. "Turns out Vongola is not dead after all."

"Well, then. That means we have work to do."

* * *

Not full twenty-four hours later, in an apartment overlooking the Midorya home space, an elderly lady had moved out. Packed her bags and disappeared over night, never to be seen again. Her replacement didn't want to be disturbed.

The living room offered a clean look into the Midoriya household, aided with some basic surveillance equipment. Technology had made such a leap in the past few years, it would be a shame not to use it.

Adjusting lenses with baby fingers, the world's formerly greatest hitman eyed his target with a spark of intent in his eyes. On the laptop screen, only thing set in the deserted room, Midoriya Izuku was breathlessly explaining something to Midoriya Inko, point lost in the senseless babble that ensued seconds later. Lens zoomed in on a single object, hanging off of a thin chain around Midoriya's neck. No mistake, the design was uncanny. Word craved inside glinted with an orange light that wasn't there, containing a power known only to a few that still lived in this day and age.

Power that Midoriya had now revealed to the world at large.

Face, meet palm.

"Seems like coming here wasn't a waste of time," Reborn told his pet chameleon. "It's time we get some long overdue answers, Leon." Starting with, how did Midoriya Izuku end up in possession of a ring that hadn't been seen on the face of the Earth for nearly two centuries? And, more importantly, how could he possibly use it?

First things first, though. Yuni needed to know she'd hit the bullseye.


	2. Part-time tutor

A/N: Reborn does his thing. Izuku suffers.

* * *

Izuku wondered if this was a good idea. It was so _corny_. More importantly, it was _All Might_. Assuming the fanmail ever reached him, would he remember Izuku? _Well, technically, it was my fault Sludge Villain escaped, so I guess he won't forget that so easily..._ Which was the whole point of the fan letter – apology. Leaving a message on a fan board would probably be more effective, but Izuku was still kinda ashamed that it was his fault that the Villain had escaped and half a city block had ended up blown up. Even if the latter was all Bakugou.

Letter addressed to All Might's last known hero office, Izuku dropped it in the post box and ran to school before he could change his mind. And, dunno, ransack the post box or something.

After all the chaos that went down yesterday, rest of the day had been surprisingly dull. Kacchan pretending Izuku didn't exist was new, but not as new as the rest of the class picking on Bakugou. "How'd you end up so neck deep that Deku had to help you out?" was not a question Izuku thought anyone would be asking, ever. He also didn't know whether that question was more insulting to Bakugou or himself, but he ultimately decided he didn't care.

Bakugou cared. Which meant that those who asked got an explosion in their face for their efforts, but everybody knew what Kacchan was like. They had to have seen it coming. Somehow, they hadn't.

In the end, Izuku had been so impatient for the school to be over, now he didn't know how to proceed. He had a Quirk... But where to go from there?

Sitting in the park, he flipped a page of his notebook. He'd gone and put on paper every little detail he could remember. From the 'comfortable warm', tension in his fingertips, to the countless little details that he only realized after he'd added another hundred views to the already humiliating video. Which was trending, for some bizarre reason.

End result was... less than he expected. Barely two pages. Half of the first one was All Might's autograph. Izuku was pretty sure he should've just framed that notebook and bought a new one, but too late now.

 _Let's see, close your eyes, try to feel it..._ Warm, comfortable, familiar. That was how it felt, yet unreachable all the same. Opening his eyes and checking the hand mirror, nope, no fire on his head, no matter how much he willed it to come out. But there was a flicker on the ring. Just for a second, short enough for Izuku to wonder if maybe he was just imagining it. But no. Thinking back, ring was burning on the video, too.

 _Cause it's metal, there was no damage, so maybe it was just me doing it subconsciously? So I wouldn't set myself on fire?_ Logic didn't really apply, since his hair should've been on fire. Immunity to your own Quirk happened as often as it didn't, so there was a limit to how much Izuku could risk it – which was why he was doing this outside in the first place. Quirk or no, mom would kill him if he set his own room on fire.

"Alright, again."

A flicker. A spark, maybe. Nothing more.

Izuku scratched his head, listing through his notebook again. "Maybe there's a trigger? Come to think, most Quirks have some form of a trigger at first, at least everyone in class had it..."

"It's not gonna work."

Izuku blinked, a little surprised to find a baby standing in front of him. He hadn't seen him appear, but all of a sudden, he was there anyway. High quality suit, fedora and a pacifier. Izuku blinked again, to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. Then again, Quirks were weird. Could as well be an adult in a toddler body. "Who... are you?"

"Ciaossu! I'm Reborn, a part-time tutor," the baby said. "And like I just said, what you're doing isn't gonna work. You don't really know what you're doing, do you?"

 _True, but also... what?_ "Um... I'm using my... trying to figure out how to use my Quirk..." Izuku shook his head. "Look, um, I guess this is a form of advertisement? I'm fine here. I don't need a... part time tutor? Yeah. Thanks for the offer anyway."

If he'd expected that to work, it clearly had the opposite effect. Baby leaned forward and stared at his notebook upside down. "Highly concentrated fire Quirk forming on forehead," he read in highly entertained baby voice. "Contained, won't spread since it didn't set my hair on fire...? Limited effect. Could potentially be used like Endeavor's Hellflame. Pfffft. You really did your homework on this, didn't you?"

Izuku's cheeks burned, and it definitely wasn't the Quirk. "It's a hobby... sort of."

"And you're trying so hard because it's a hobby?"

"What? No!" Izuku hesitated. This was turning into a really weird conversation, what he wanted was training, proper training, because UA exams were coming up and he wanted to be _ready_ –

"Well," the baby continued, paying him little mind, "since you seem to be missing one crucial part, and all the other preconditions have been met, I suppose something can still be done. But before that, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did. Why are you even talking to me?"

"You want to enter UA, right? That big hero school? Good grades and a super cool ability won't be enough to get you there. You'll need to work really hard."

"How do you even _know_ that?"

"It's circled right there in the notebook. Come on, get a grip, Izuku. So, can I ask you my question? Depending on your answer, I might be able to help you."

If anyone ever thought to ask, it was this. This, the precise moment when Izuku went along with any of this, that his life went off the rails so badly it could never be recovered again. Not Sludge Villain. Not All Might. Not even a Quirk he never knew he had.

Reborn had planned his move perfectly. He'd dragged Izuku's motivation out in the open, teased and baited him with it. Then he'd pulled out a gun, and asked, "If you were to die right now, what would you regret?"

Lots of things came to mind. From the logical, 'you have got to be kidding me' and 'is that a real gun' and 'what the hell, this isn't funny'. To actual answers to that outrageous question. That he hated that he'd never become a hero. That he hadn't hugged his mom more. Hadn't called his dad to tell him how much he sucked. After all, he'd asked himself the same question before, and the answers had been there for a long time.

He never got a chance to say any of these things, because Reborn pulled the trigger, and everything went to hell from there.

Ripped out of his own clothes, with single-minded focus, Izuku was back on his feet, like Reborn didn't just put a bullet in his head. Very specific bullet.

"I'LL PUNCH KACCHAN IN THE FACE WITH MY DYING WILL!"

* * *

Prior to meeting Midoriya Izuku, Reborn had two simple reasons for coming out of his comfortable retirement home on Bali and heading to Japan.

First, get Tsuna's ring – assuming Yuni had predicted it's appearance correctly.

Second, find out how it ended up where it did. Which would hopefully answer dozens of other questions Reborn had been asking for nearly two centuries.

Video had surfaced in the meantime, cutting Reborn's workload in half. Yuni gave him a location, which was useful, but video gave him a name. And so much more.

Midoriya Izuku was, on first sight, completely normal kid, from a completely normal family.

Kids who could set Vongola Sky ring on fire and live to tell the tale didn't exactly count as normal in Reborn's book.

So, he'd searched for Vongola connection first and came up empty, as expected. Then he'd looked for Sawada connection, and found nothing, which wasn't as expected. It also didn't mean the connection wasn't there, but it made it a whole lot more difficult to find. That said, it couldn't be anything other than a grand cosmic joke that Izuku's life was seemingly so much like Tsuna's used to be.

Which was why he'd fired that Dying Will bullet. After all, Reborn was an assassin. You learn much about your target when you learn about their regret. And Izuku's regret had been unlike what Reborn had expected, which made things interesting.

Clothes forgotten, Midoriya was running down the street, down the stairs and into the metro line. In all that rush, he'd still kept the presence of mind to pick up his metro ticket – and, perhaps even more importantly, he knew exactly where to find this Kacchan. Namely, arcade.

"KACCHAN!"

The student in question looked up from his game, anger replaced with sheer confusion when he saw Izuku running at him. "Huh? Deku? The fuck are you naked for?!"

"DETROIT... SMASH!"

"THE FUCK!?"

Explosion that followed shook half the street. Reborn watched with mild interest as Midoriya hit the nearby wall, hard, and picked himself back up, not deterred that his first attempt at a punch didn't even come close. "I'LL PUNCH YOU WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"You ain't punching shit with that form! I'm gonna squish you like a bug! Who do you think you are, picking a fight with me just cause ya have a fucking Quirk now?!"

"PUNCH!"

That said, Izuku really needed to learn how to throw a punch. Reborn made a mental note on that, as Bakugou twisted Izuku's fist and flung him into another wall.

"Fucking pathetic. You're worse than a useless worm. Wanna have a go? At least get fucking decent at this! It ain't even fun at this point."

"Punch… you… face… Izuku picked himself up, but the damage had already been done. Dying Will bullet's effect was wearing off, and Izuku's breathing was getting more ragged by the second.

Once he was back on his feet, last of the bullet's effects disappeared, leaving Izuku with that ugly taste of defeat in his mouth – and self awareness, too, because he freaked out over the fact he was just in his underwear much more than over the fact he'd just tried to punch a fellow classmate. Fellow classmate, who looked all too happy to have a chance to let loose.

Some fifteen minutes later, after Izuku was thoroughly beat up and Bakugou had stalked off to do whatever he usually did with his free time, Reborn finished his long list of Midoriya's shortcomings, and worked out a plan.

"Here." He handed a jersey to the poor kid.

Izuku grabbed it, pulled it on, and glared. "We need to talk."

Well. This was gonna be fun.

* * *

"So… special bullet. Dying Will flames. Not a Quirk." That was the most Izuku picked up from Reborn's explanation. He was still working on understanding.

They were sitting on a random bench in a park not far from Izuku's home, each with a drink in hand. Izuku's was a milkshake and he was pretty sure Reborn's contained at least one type of alcohol, along with the original coffee.

"That's the gist," the baby that was really not a baby confirmed.

"And I wanted to punch Kacchan because of that?" Dear god, living with knowing that he'd _tried_ was almost as terrifying as having another go at the Sludge Villain. Kacchan destroyed him.

"You did that because you wanted to, so don't look at me," Reborn said.

"Well, yeah, I guess… I just never thought that would be the thing I regret most. It's so… silly."

Reborn shrugged. "Petty regrets are also regrets. Better than no regrets, at least with Dying Will bullets in the picture."

"Hey!" Then Izuku blanched, as potential consequences crossed his mind. "That bullet would've killed me if I had no regrets. Or no?"

"Who knows?"

"Don't shoot if you don't know!"

"What I mean, I don't know if it would've killed you, with that involved." Izuku's hand unconsciously settled on his chest. Under the tip of his fingers, the jersey. And under that, the ring. Chill went down his back at what Reborn said next. "It definitely would've killed anyone else."

That… that had brought them to a matter Izuku had been avoiding on purpose. Mostly because he'd barely understood anything Reborn had said, but partly because it sounded far too convoluted to be real.

"So, uh… this ring… the thing I thought was my Quirk is actually a power of this ring, right?" Izuku surmised.

"Yes and no," Reborn said. "While it is a source of ancient and incredible power, it's not as simple as giving that power to whomever has the ring. Think of it this way, it just enhances what is already there."

"So… does that mean I have a Quirk?"

Reborn sighed tiredly. "You really need to stop thinking about this in terms of Quirks."

Izuku groaned. "I'm trying, but you're not making any sense. This power is Dying Will flames, right? But what are those? You said everybody has those, but I've never heard anything about that before."

"You couldn't have," Reborn agreed. "Using the flames without conductors is borderline impossible, and conductors themselves were always hard to come by. Quirk revolution essentially removed them from existence. I suspect there is very few people left in the world who know the flames exist, let alone how they work."

"Then how do you know?"

Reborn grinned. "I'm the world's greatest hitman, of course."

Izuku just sighed, fighting an oncoming headache. Wasn't it enough that he already had a black eye courtesy of Kacchan? "Okay, fine." Assuming he believed all this, or at the very least considered it possible even if he disagreed, there were so many other things wrong with it, he didn't know where to start asking.

"I have a question for you, Izuku," Reborn said suddenly, sipping on his alcohol-coffee mix. At Izuku's silence, he continued. "How did you get that ring? Family heirloom?"

Reaching for the warm metal, Izuku felt his lips stretch slightly. "No, nothing like that. Uh, there used to be a small bookshop in the neighborhood, I only went there a few times. Didn't think the owner would remember me, but he did… Gave me this shortly before he closed it. Called it a good luck charm. I guess he didn't know what he had, either."

"Or he knew, and wanted to get rid of it," Reborn said. "Say, you don't possibly remember anything about that bookshop? A name, maybe? Or the owner? What he looked like?"

Izuku shrugged. "Sorry. It was years ago, I really didn't go there so often."

"Nothing at all? Even an address?"

"No… I could show you the building I guess. It's not far from here."

"Some other time," Reborn said simply. Dropped his empty cup in the trash, before turning to Izuku with a glint in his eye. "I decided, Izuku. I'm going to help you train your Dying Will flames and enter UA."

"Wha–? _What?_ " Izuku choked on his milkshake. "I thought… but… the ring–! You said it belongs to your student! I can't–!"

"Some may disagree, but the way I see it, if you can ignite it, it's yours," Reborn said, much to Izuku's shock. "Besides, the way this ring works, the very fact you can use it means that my student accepts your resolution. What more can I ask for?"

"But… this… isn't okay," Izuku finished lamely.

"Of course it isn't," Reborn agreed. "Like I said, if my student accepts your resolution, then so do I. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you drag my student's name through the mud. You want to be a hero? Then I'm gonna make you into the greatest hero in the world. No matter what it takes."

For some reason, that sounded a whole lot more ominous than it should've. Izuku gulped. "Uh, thanks? I guess?"

"Well, then. It's time we get started on your training, don't you think?"

"What? Already?!"

"I've seen how you handled Bakugou and your form is atrocious. If you want to get anywhere by the time your entrance exams roll around, we're gonna have to start working now, and not waste any time. Now move it. Run twice around the complex and then we'll work out the rest."

"But I'm still in my underwear!"

"Then just run faster."

* * *

"So, any word from the boss?"

The room stilled suddenly, as if mere mention of the boss meant the man might be listening. Several people shifted nervously, others hid their insecurities by turning to their drinks.

Thyme, representative of the boss and one of CEDEF's elite, cleared her throat. "Boss' order: make no contact."

At once, the room dissolved into chaos.

"But that's the ring – that's definitely our ring!"

"What is he thinking? He'll destroy the family!"

"Did he just say we sit and do nothing!? _Again?!_ "

Those were just some of the many outraged screams tearing through the room. Few people remained silent, waiting for the others to settle, before word was given to Thyme again.

"Boss believes any action at this point in time would be a waste of precious resources. Any rash action without backing of solid evidence in regards to the ring would be undoing all the hard work we've put into keeping the family together over the years. End of report."

The arguments started again, more violent than before, until a series of claps brought it to relative silence again. Few people were still muttering under their breath.

A sinister voice raised above all others, calm but resolute. "So, that's what the boss thinks?" the man said. "But what we haven't heard, what do you think, Thyme? You are one of CEDEF's best. Surely you must've formed an opinion of your own."

Silence. The girl shifted, uncomfortable with everybody's undivided attention, and on such a controversial matter. Clearly she understood, that it was her final word that would decide the course the family would take.

Inhaling, she steeled herself. "I respectfully disagree. Family hasn't been in this dire situation since the fall of Decimo Any action we take, it must be swift, united and decisive. Vongola family can't waste time being divided no more. Action must be taken, as soon as possible. Or this time, we may not be able to rise from the ashes."

"There it is, gentlemen!" A chuckle filled the room, in spite of the tension thick enough to be cut with a knife. "Now let's get to work."

And chaos descended upon the room once more.


	3. Of Trips and Exams

A/N: Guys, your support means the world to me! I hope this chapter answers some of your questions... and makes you ask a lot more!

* * *

 _Why am I here?_

It was a month into Reborn's training. Izuku was making progress. Sort of. He was also questioning whether getting stronger necessarily meant getting trounced every other day.

On the first day, Reborn had given him a pair of metal gloves that had seen better days, until they could get their hands on something more suitable. Metal had suffered some pretty serious damage, while the leather inside was completely worn out. Metal X over the back of his hands was kind of cool. Reborn had called them a high-quality flame conductor, which had only started making sense once Izuku set himself on fire. It had been shockingly easy.

Which meant that Reborn had to go right ahead and make it difficult. Apparently, his life philosophy consisted of a belief that if you weren't screaming, bleeding or dying, you weren't doing it right.

In line with that, Izuku was now standing in the last place he ever thought he'd be, doing the very last thing that he'd ever imagined himself doing (but he had imagined, Reborn would say, therefore making all of Izuku's arguments invalid).

Standing on the doorway of their house, Bakugou Katsuki and his mom were staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Please work out with me, Kacchan!"

Oh god, this was so bad, he wanted to punch himself.

Bakugou slammed the door shut in his face.

If Izuku didn't already know there was no way this would be that easy, he would've gotten hopeful that, maybe, he wouldn't end up with another set of bruises he may or may not need to explain to his mom. But two seconds later, door opened again, and Bakugou in workout clothes marched out, looking like he'd love nothing more than to force Izuku to swallow one of his bigger explosions.

 _This… was a bad idea._

"I'm going to fucking kill you, Deku."

Izuku nodded. Most likely, that was exactly how this was going to end. Then again, there was a certain brilliance to it. One way or another, Kacchan was guaranteed to pass the entrance exams. Reborn had put Izuku through enough training that he "at least knew how to punch", in his own words. Which meant that if trying to punch Kacchan became a weird kind of training too, Izuku was bound to get better at it. Or Kacchan really would kill him – or put him in a hospital bed indefinitely.

 _So, fighting Kacchan will have to do._

Izuku just wished there was a way to do this that wasn't so fucking humiliating.

* * *

"What are you doing, uncle Reborn?"

Looking up from his large set of notes spread everywhere on the picnic table, Reborn sighed. "You're here, Yuni. I was wondering how long it would take you to show up."

The girl smiled, climbing up to the tree branch from where she could watch the unfolding action. Bakugou and Izuku had just finished warming up, too, the former stretching while the latter keenly focused on his own inner state of peace. Then Dying Will flame burst out on top of Izuku's head. Boys lunged at each other.

"I see you're teaching him how to harness the flames," Yuni noted cheerily. "That's very kind of you."

"I'm just bidding my time," Reborn said. "If there's any truth to what I found, he's going to need them."

Yuni's smile quelled. "I see you haven't given up." At his sharp look, she quickly lifted her hands in defense. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad. Tsuna-san wouldn't want you to do this to yourself, but I at least can empathize. Truth has been buried for far too long. Arcobaleno have their right to mourn, too."

Sighing, Reborn gave another quick once-over to his notes. "I wonder about that, sometimes."

Yuni tilted her head.

"Do you know how Izuku got the ring?" Reborn asked. "Our dear old freaky friend gave it to him."

"Friend…?" Yuni looked much too confused, even for a face of a thirteen-year-old. Then realization hit her. "Checkerface? But how could he have possibly stolen Tsuna's-"

"He didn't, is the best answer I could come up with."

"Then how? Do you think he may have just found it by accident?" Now when Yuni put it in words, it sounded that much more contrived.

An explosion shook the park after Bakugou finally found an opening and used it to it's full effect. Izuku hit the ground, hard, but the flame on top of his head merely flickered. He was back on his feet within seconds. Reborn added something to his notes, before turning back to Yuni.

"I think Tsuna may have given him the ring on purpose."

Yuni stared at him, startled. But after nearly two hundred years of not-quite-immortality, she recovered quickly. "I suppose it's not impossible," she said diplomatically. "But for Tsuna-san to do that… how bad must've things gotten?"

Very, if neither Tsuna nor his Guardians had ever returned. Reborn didn't say it, though. Yuni had seen the aftermath herself. Lived through it, in a way. Maybe, after two hundred years, a part of them had started believing that Tsuna had just gotten sick of the life he'd lived and chose to disappear off his own accord. It would've felt like betrayal, but at this point, even betrayal was better than a fat lot of nothing.

"I managed to locate the drawers," Reborn said suddenly.

Yuni blinked. "They still exist?" Then, "Do you need my help opening them?"

Reborn tried to hold back a smile. "We'll see. I don't need them yet." A little spark of pride flashed in his eyes when Izuku flipped Bakugou over with a judo throw. So he had been paying attention, after all. "Have you been keeping an eye on them, Yuni? The Vongola?"

The girl was silent for a long moment. "Not lately, no. Do you think I should?"

Reborn shrugged. "It's been three months since the ring surfaced. It's possible nobody realized it, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"You think they might come for it?" Yuni mused. "After all this time?"

"I'm surprised they haven't come yet. For ring _and_ the kid. But we'll burn that bridge once we get to it."

Yuni scrunched her eyebrows, lost in thought. Then she chuckled. "I'm glad to see you like Izuku that much." Jumping off the tree branch, she cleaned her clothes like a princess should, and smiled a sunny smile at Reborn. "Well, I'll go now. If you ever need any help, uncle Reborn, please contact me. And if you find something about what happened, too. Tsuna-san might've caused a lot of heartache for everyone, but he deserves a proper funeral, too."

And with that she was gone, leaving Reborn to get lost in his own thoughts. Until Bakugou screamed, and blasted yet another innocent tree trunk to smithereens.

"You want another go?! Fucking fine, Deku! I'ma blast your ugly mug to next century if you pull that sorta shit again!"

Reborn sighed. He was getting too old for this, damn it.

* * *

Glancing at his calendar one final time, Izuku picked up his bag and flung it over his shoulder. This was it. Day D.

He had never been this scared in his entire life.

UA was his dream. The history, responsibility and meaning that came with it would've been enough pressure on it's own, but Izuku had to lie just so he could _try_.

It didn't help that Reborn seemed to think lying about his Quirk, or lack thereof, was okay. In fact, Reborn thinking it was a must to lie in his application was the main reason he thought it wasn't. What if he was discovered? There were laws about this sort of thing! Even worse, what if they don't find out? Would he have to live with this for the rest of his life?

Izuku had no idea. But at the very least, he was glad Dying Will flames could be used without the any accessories. Which didn't stop Reborn from filing his gloves as support gear anyway.

"You'll need them. Ring you can go without, although I think that's stupid. Gloves are your best way of controlling the flames, therefore those you need at all times." All that, because Leon wasn't finished making Izuku's personal support gear in time for the exam.

How a chameleon could create something even remotely similar to metal gloves was beyond Izuku.

But speaking of Reborn, the tutor was oddly missing most of the morning. Given how sometimes he'd been more invested in Izuku's exam than Izuku himself, that absence was unsettling. And maybe just a little disappointing. Cryptic notes such as "I've gone to get coffee with a friend," weren't helpful in the least.

 _Kacchan is going to be serious today._

That was the second unsettling thought of the day.

In all fairness, Izuku had been stunned Kacchan had bothered to help him at all. Even if that help sometimes amounted to beating the shit out of Deku until he couldn't get up anymore. Kacchan ultimately said that the only reason he did it was so he could personally kick Deku's sorry ass out of UA and show him just how much of a useless prick he was. Izuku was not looking forward to that.

 _But this is my chance, too..._ Kacchan was scary, but he used to be much scarier. Now, when he punched, Izuku could punch back. He just tried not to think of all the beatings that had led up to that.

Which was why, standing in the auditorium, surrounded by hundreds of others exam attendees, he found it genuinely funny when things took a bit of an unexpected turn.

Next to Izuku, Kacchan was shaking in rage, application slip in his hands clearly marked with 'training ground F'.

"THE FUCK?!" Bakugou screamed. "DEKU YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Like logistics behind the exam was somehow Izuku's fault. Glancing down at his ground B slip, he suppressed a grin. "Not today, you won't."

Then he left Bakugou to spontaneously combust on his own. He was jittery enough without Kacchan adding up the pressure, although it would be a lie to say that knowing Kacchan was in a different exam group altogether didn't make him feel a lot more confident about this.

Squaring his shoulders, Izuku steeled himself and focused. He had to be calm for this, after all. Then the girl who'd saved him from an embarrassing fall earlier smiled and waved at him, and Izuku promptly walked into a wall.

* * *

All in all, theoretical exam was fine. Practical could've gone better. "Your critical thinking sucks," he could practically hear Reborn saying – and it hurt because it was true. Izuku spent half the exam thinking the school was seriously expecting him to just punch robots. And he'd _tried_. Stuff Reborn had taught him weren't exactly applicable when fighting robots, though. Kacchan's own beating up had ended up being more useful, because it had at least taught Izuku he could fire Dying Will flames as explosions too, kind of.

 _It's so much weaker without the ring, though._

Heck, entering hyper mode had come much harder. If he hadn't trained so hard beforehand, Izuku wasn't sure if he could've pulled it off.

In the end, when the zero-pointer had shown up and Izuku had taken a moment to collect himself, things started to fall into place. Exam was as much a test of heroic behavior as fighting ability. Izuku just hated that he had to rip the robot's arm off before figuring that out.

The fact he figured out the button only after the exam was over was something never to be spoken of again.

Thankfully, it was over, and now all that was left was to wait for the results. _Ugh._

"I'm home!" he yelled, dejectedly kicking his shoes off. Mom was on him in seconds, firing dozens of questions per second, as if she'd completely forgotten this was strictly the exam portion and that the results would come later.

It was only once he was finished talking that she seemed to realize she'd forgotten something important. "Ah, right! Izuku, there was mail for you this morning."

"Huh?"

Izuku had ended up stalking off to his room first, not too surprised to find the envelope on his desk. And in the corner of his room, snuggling in a bunch of Izuku's old t-shirts, Leon was napping just like when Izuku had left in the morning. His stomach had grown significantly over the past month. If this was going to be anything like childbirth, Izuku wanted it out of his room.

"Reborn's not back yet, huh?"

Which was… not that unusual. When he went somewhere, he tended to be gone all day. Part-time tutor work and all that, he'd said. Izuku had still somehow expected him to be here after the exam. Apparently not.

Prying the envelope open, he wasn't surprised to find Reborn's childlike signature at the bottom. The letter itself was a lot more of a surprise. It read more like a note, really.

 _Ring is with Leon . After exam, don't take it off no matter what. I'm taking a short trip to Italy, I'll see you again in a week or so._

 _– Reborn_

And as if on cue, Leon opened his mouth and unrolled his tongue, ring hanging off of it's tip.

"Ugh, that is disgusting," Izuku said.

Somewhere, he was sure, Reborn was having a laugh at his expense. Leon himself looked like he was finding the situation awfully entertaining. Izuku picked up the ring, deciding that washing it was the first order of business. He wasn't putting that thing anywhere near him otherwise. Later, he'd find a way to get back at Reborn for this.

And everything else.

Eventually.

* * *

A week turned into two, and two turned into three, and it was only at the end of the fourth week that Reborn decided to show himself.

By that point, Leon was big enough that Izuku was afraid he might burst, and Izuku had been accepted into UA, had been busy filing out the hero costume application and support gear, which was due tomorrow morning, _early_ , and he was already behind because he'd wasted too much time trying to figure out what Leon was making. And classes were less than a week away.

And the first thing Reborn did, without even a hello or congratulations, was kick down his door.

"We have a problem, Izuku."

Mind in a bunch of legal terms he didn't fully understand, Izuku groaned. "Yes, I would think so! Where have you been?"

Then the window in Izuku's room shattered, what looked like a knife sticking out of the opposite wall. Suddenly, four weeks of no contact seemed like the least of Izuku's concerns. "Is that the problem?!"

"Yes," said Reborn, picking up Leon instead of, say, calling the police. "He's also armed with a shotgun and a size-changing quirk. Possibly more, he's a professional after all. You might wanna think of that before you go."

"Before I go _where_?" Izuku asked. But then a shotgun blast obliterated the All Might action figure near his laptop, and Izuku didn't have time to be worrying about where.

A mental shift was all it took, and he was in Hyper mode, halfway out the window. He scanned the area, only tangentially aware of the fact the world suddenly seemed so much sharper, and the danger so much more obvious, even in the darkest corners of the night.

"I see him. Reborn, call the heroes. I'll keep him busy."

And then he was out, diving through the window and hurling towards the ground at sickening speeds, force of the flames around his gloved hands the only thing stopping him for splattering over the sidewalk like a rotten tomato.

The instigator chuckled, eyes flashing under sharp fringe. "Looks like the baby's out to play. Too bad, I'll have to take your toy away."

And then a flying, oversized pencil case almost flattened Izuku with the ground. Followed by a shotgun blast that would've ripped his arm off if a gut feeling hadn't had him moving in the other direction at the last second. Somewhere behind him, somebody screamed.

"Oh, that was pretty good," the villain said, eyes dancing like he'd seen a particularly interesting toy. "But sorry, I'm short on time and money."

A giant paper tissue that came out of _friggin nowhere_ almost caught Izuku in yet another trap. But with a sinking feeling, he realized that while dodging that, he hadn't been able to escape a lasso around his ankle. The villain pulled, and Izuku stumbled, flat on his back while the man pulled him all the way to himself, square face stretched into a wide grin.

Then again, that wasn't so bad.

The moment he was close enough, Izuku blasted him face-full with Dying Will flames, using the moment of surprise to punch the villain in the gut – and groan, as fist met metal.

Thick metal plate reduced in size back to a pendant before Izuku's eyes. "Wow, you're a real spirited kid!" Then a hand was around his wrist, twisting until something in Izuku's joints wanted to snap. He forced Izuku onto his stomach, knee pressing into the low of his back and locking him in place. Cold hand wrapped around his neck, fingers closing around the chain. And much to Izuku's gasping and resistance, they tugged at it, pulling the ring out from where it had been comfortably resting under his shirt.

"There it is. Such a shame it had to go this way."

Cold metal of a shotgun settled on Izuku's temple.

Breath hitched in Izuku's throat, sheer panic snuffing out the flame on his fists. He couldn't move, otherwise his wrist might just snap, and the weight on his back was simply too much. There was nothing, _nothing_ he could do and there was a part of his mind that was screaming in panic-

Two consecutive shots rang out, and the grip on Izuku's wrist and ring slackened. Heavy body toppled him over, and it was all Izuku could do just to get him off, gasping for air.

Two crimson darts stuck out of the man's neck.

And, standing on a third-story window, Reborn twirled his gun around his finger. Then he jumped off, as if he hadn't just been dozens of feet in the air. He hit the ground with a soft thud. "Like I said, we have a problem. Are you okay?"

Izuku pulled himself from under the dead weight, wrist still in pain. Gasping for air, he crawled a few feet away, before he just sat on the ground, waiting for the shaking to stop. "We really, _really_ , need to talk about what qualifies as a problem to you."

Reborn snorted. He kicked the shotgun away from the attacker.

Looking at the man on the ground, for a moment Izuku wondered whether he was alive or dead, and what either of those options would mean. But then the soft rising and falling of his chest under black leather reassured him he was just sleeping.

"Who is he?" Izuku managed, after his breathing normalized a little. "Why was he trying to-?" _…kill me?_ "And he tried to take the ring-!"

"Calm down, Izuku. Panicking isn't going to help any."

"How do I calm down, he just tried to kill me—" Then he remembered the window. And, "Oh god, _mom_."

"Don't worry, I took care of her. She's safe."

Izuku found himself sagging in relief. "But… why? Why did this...?"

At that, Reborn's face darkened considerably. "How much do you remember from what I told you about the ring?"

"Powerful. Scary. Belonged to your student," Izuku said immediately. "You also said it was a sort of family heirloom? But what does that have to do with anything…?"

"My student's family," Reborn confirmed a theory Izuku had feared. "They're traditionalists, so to speak. With a tendency for dramatics. The ring belonged to my student, but technically it belongs to the family itself. Normally, if you wanted to have it, you'd need to fight the ring battles for it. But that's kind of a moot point now, considering this is the only one in the set that's been found."

" _What?_ " Izuku blanched. "I don't want to fight for it! What sort of a family would make you fight for it? Can't I just… give it back? I'll... I'll be fine. I can try to be a hero anyway-"

"It doesn't work that way," Reborn cut him off. "The ring chose you. The fact that happened at all means you're part of the bloodline and a viable, _chosen_ heir, one way or another. But given they sent a pro all the way here, seems to me the family decided they didn't like that very much. Reckless idiots."

There was something there, something important that Reborn wasn't saying, hadn't been saying from the very beginning. In the midst of all the things Izuku didn't understand, but desperately wanted to, there was one thing he couldn't put his finger on. It wasn't even an attempted murder or powers nobody else seemed to know about. It gnawed at him, had been for months now, ever since Reborn first walked into his life with a gun and a story with more holes in it than Swiss cheese.

In the end, it all culminated into a single question. Possibly the most important one.

" _Who are they?_ "

For a moment, Reborn seemed torn on whether he should lie, or say anything, but then he looked Izuku dead in the eye, and something inside him snapped.

"The Vongola family," he said simply. "But it might mean more to you if I just call them the Mafia instead."

Izuku wished he hadn't asked.


	4. Puzzles

A/N: Vongola is an ancient, messed up puzzle. Good thing Izuku's always liked those.

* * *

 _I'm an heir to a Mafia family._

Izuku wasn't sure what was the crazier part of that sentence. That he was actually in the running to inherit a Mafia family, even if on a technicality. Or the fact he wholeheartedly believed it.

"This is crazy," he said. Maybe for the fifth time that evening.

Lying on the couch next to him, Reborn was reading his support gear application forms and costume request and ignoring him frivolously. They'd taken to relocating to the living room while Reborn's cleaning crew took care of Izuku's broken window. Reborn scratched off something on the form. "We need another one of these. Scratch that. You'll need to do both over again. What possessed you to say yes to UA Costume Department altering your costume design in case of damage?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Izuku wailed. "Leon doesn't talk, I have no idea what he's making, and you were _gone_. How will I know to fix it myself if I have to?" And he most certainly would, given the nature of his powers. Too many of his shirts had burn marks at this point.

Reborn pinched him. "I told you to trust Leon. He knows what he's doing."

Izuku wanted to cry out of sheer frustration. "He's a chameleon! A weird one, but still!"

"Look at you. Now you hurt his feelings."

As if to punctuate that, the reptile stared at them. If reptiles could look sad, this was it.

Izuku groaned and silently promised himself he'd get Leon some snacks later as an apology, but now, he was not falling for this. He'd let himself get dragged in enough of Reborn's insanity already.

Taking a breath, he asked the thing that had been torturing him for hours. "It's my dad, isn't it? He's this connection to the criminal underworld that you keep mentioning. He's the reason why those people are now after me? And why mom..." Izuku gave up. Thanks to Reborn shooting her with a sleep dart, his mom had no idea what was going on. He wasn't sure if that made things better or worse.

"Who knows?" Reborn dismissed, scratching out Izuku's signature on UA contracting a design company on his behalf. "You should just put Vongola Fashion Line here. Not exactly famous, but nobody will be looking into it."

"Ah, can you just forget the costume for five minutes?" Izuku's voice betrayed him. He tried to calm down, but it was not working. "Somebody just tried to kill me because I'm an heir to a mafia family?! And you're worried about costume paperwork?"

Reborn scratched off something else on the form. Then he set it down, turning to look at Izuku.

"You asked if it's your dad," he began, and with that, Izuku felt all the anger leaving him and he just sagged back into the couch. He was so tired. "I don't really know that," Reborn said, and at this point, it wasn't even a surprise. "I've been looking into it, but your situation isn't as simple as you think. So far, I've found no evidence of either of your parents being connected to the Vongola."

"Which doesn't mean connection isn't there. You said it yourself."

"I did," Reborn agreed. "But if your dad really is a full-time mafioso, I would know it, no matter what fake identity he tried to use. I'm good at this. But even more than me, Vongola family would know it. However, given how severely uninformed they were about you, I'm thinking your connection is a lot more complex and harder to determine than that."

Izuku sighed. This was not how he expected this talk to go, but he was still curious. "What... do you mean? How complex can it be? It seems pretty simple."

Reborn gave him that look again, like he was debating on how much he should say. Izuku was beginning to hate that look.

"It's really not." Reborn stretched his arms, before scratching his chin. "Given I didn't know about you until recently, there is really only two possible lines that can connect you to the Vongola family." Izuku... didn't like the sound of his voice very much, explanatory and calm, like he was holding a lecture. "First is Primo. Given the events that had him relocating to Japan, all the records on his family are flimsy at best, your family could've branched off of there and fallen in the cracks. As for the second possibility, well..." Reborn looked away. If Izuku didn't know better, he thought his tutor might've looked sad.

"Decimo's daughters were kept out of the family on purpose," he said. Hesitated. "I... helped with that. But things happened, and I eventually lost track of them. Either one of those girls could've been you great-great grandmother or something. It would be better if that wasn't the case though."

Izuku was still trying to wrap his head about that 'great grandma' part. And what that meant if Decimo was so old, as Reborn made it sound. Maybe even more importantly, if they were going that far back, how old was Reborn? None of this made any sense. "But, wait... Why would it be bad? Connection is a connection, right? I mean, if it's so distant, then it shouldn't really matter?"

At that, Reborn smiled. It wasn't a happy smile. "Decimo is a bit of a black sheep in the family. Logical or not, Vongola right now won't like it if you're connected to him. Not that it really matters anymore, since they're trying to kill you anyway." Yawning, Reborn looked him in the eye. "You should go to sleep, Izuku. You have a long day ahead of you, and it's already late. Don't forget to file a new Costume form in the morning."

And there it was. Somebody wants you dead, but don't forget to do this thing I asked for and good night. As if Izuku could possibly sleep after all this.

Still, he made his way back to his room, snuggled under his All Might blanket and closed his eyes.

Ten minutes later, he was up again, eyes bleary and only barely open. Reborn was gone, off to wherever it was he usually went. Leon was softly snoring in his corner made of Izuku's old t-shirts. Izuku didn't know chameleons snored. He was pretty sure they normally didn't. Clock on his phone said 2:37AM. He was going to hate himself in the morning.

Opening his laptop, Izuku waited for it to boot, and typed the first words that came to mind. _Vongola Family_.

Several million results blinked to the screen almost immediately, _Vongola Conglomerate_ wikipedia page just the first of many.

Clicking on it, Izuku yawned. Oh, he was going to hate himself in the morning so, so much.

* * *

Sun was up, school was about to start... and All Might felt like he was losing his stomach all over again.

An open letter sat on his desk, its contents having given the World's Greatest Hero much to think about over the past months.

 _Dear All Might,_

 _I don't really know if you will ever read this, or if you even remember me. I wasn't even sure if I should write this, but in the end I decided to do it, because my actions caused you so much trouble._

 _I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry it was my fault you lost that Sludge Villain. If I hadn't interfered, you would've put him in prison before he caused so much trouble. For that reason, I'm also sorry for being selfish, but if you'd done that, maybe I never would've discovered I had a Quirk , so I guess I'm kind of glad the incident happened after all? Please forgive me._

 _I think I understand why you told me not to be a Quirkless hero. But even so, I hope you can accept that I'm going to try to become a hero like you regardless. I have something now that makes it possible. Again, I'm sorry for all the trouble, and everything you told me on that rooftop too. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me._

 _Midoriya Izuku_

Eyes on the UA grounds that he could see from the teacher's office, All Might wondered sometimes if he'd made the right decision. Actually, he wondered all the time.

He'd wanted to reconnect with Midoriya for a while. Ask him how his training was going. Maybe give a tip or two. In the end, he hadn't, and even now he wasn't fully sure why. But it would be a lie to say that seeing Midoriya's name near the top of the list of UA exam results hadn't made him giddy.

 _He's in Aizawa's class, isn't he?_ Ow, that was going to be a bit of a rough start.

Still, All Might was glad. Young Midoriya had reinvigorated even the Symbol of Peace himself, and that was no small feat, even if the boy seemed to take it in stride. Maybe that was why…

All Might shook his head. His whole purpose in coming to UA was so he could find a worthy successor of One For All. But perhaps the sting of losing that potential successor due to his own inaction still persisted. Ever since he met young Midoriya, not only had he been questioning to whom he should pass that responsibility, he'd been questioning whether he _should_.

Not that _that_ was anything new. Izuku just brought to the forefront something All Might had been worried about for a long time now.

Still, with Nezu's blessing, All Might was confident he'd find a solution for his dilemma. Until then, well. UA needed a teacher, after all. And All Might planned to do his best, even if that meant eventually becoming just Yagi Toshinori.

* * *

First day of school was a test. Or rather, a series of tests. Halfway through, Izuku was panicking. That said, he thought he'd done reasonably well. Kacchan sort of wanted to punch him for finishing the long distance run before him, but at this point, when did Kacchan not want to punch him? Plus everyone in class had awesome Quirks, Izuku hated that he hadn't remembered to bring his notebook with him to at least summarize bits and pieces.

No, Izuku was panicking for other reasons.

Reborn was there.

More specifically, Reborn had somehow bypassed a series of high level security systems, the infamous UA barrier and even Aizawa-sensei. Yet somehow, Izuku was seeing him every other minute, moving from one location to another. And _nobody noticed_.

 _Am I crazy? Is Reborn a ghost? Have I been seeing things all this time? What is going on?_

Probably the crazier part was that Reborn had brought a tiny whiteboard and a sharpie, and after every single one of the tests Izuku finished, he'd display his… comments… on it.

Like, for the fifty-meter dash, he'd drawn a demon face, a gun and a trident. Izuku didn't know what sort of doom that was supposed to represent in his near future, but considering he also knew he could've done better, he was sure he'd find out soon enough.

Ditto for grip strength and side steps. He'd been doomed from the start.

He did get a thumbs up when he beat Kacchan in the long distance run – and he'd still lost to Iida and Yaoyorozu. The fact he beat Kacchan alone was enough to keep Izuku happy for the rest of the month. With Reborn that would work for one minute, maybe.

In the end, the thing Reborn was probably never gonna forgive him for were the sit ups. Worst part was that Izuku had zero idea why. He thought he'd done those fine.

"Why are you _here_?" he asked, the first chance he snatched to get away from his classmates. Which was much harder than it sounded. Everybody was so friendly! And Izuku wanted to ask questions. Socialize. If he stopped choking and sputtering every time Uraraka addressed him, he'd maybe even get better at it. But no, Reborn just had to show up, and Izuku couldn't in his right mind let his tutor simply walk around like he owned the place. Unbelievable.

"You'll blow my cover, Izuku," Reborn said, as if he had any cover to speak of. "I'm scouting. Go back to class, you're supposed to be making friends. Do you really want Bakugou to be your only friend?"

"I'm more like Kacchan's punching bag than a friend, really," Izuku sighed. "Anyway, how did you get in here? Please don't tell me you stole my security pass! Or copied it."

"That's too much work. Security here could be so much better," Reborn shrugged cryptically. "Go back to class. Or do you want to get me started on how atrocious your results were in these tests. Tenth? Pathetic. You're more than capable of being third."

"Couldn't help it when you had me training at midnight! Not to mention some of those moves are so draining. I barely woke up this morning," Izuku argued.

Reborn just looked at him, and Izuku knew his bluff all but blew up in his face. "You were researching the Vongola again." For some reason, it sounded so much like an accusation.

Fuck it. If Reborn figured him out already, he might as well ask. "Is it true that Thirteenth Boss' son ran away from home to become one of Europe's best hero legends?"

Reborn kicked him in the shin.

"Ow. Come on, I know there's no valid evidence _anywhere_ , but Sawada Yuu was awesome! Everything I saw suggests he was the one who stopped the Trieste Rebellion!"

Reborn just stared at him. "You know, it took three years for the family to figure that out."

It was Izuku's turn to be surprised. He was just about to ask another question when Reborn hit him again. Though this one felt more like a gentle pat.

"Go back to class, Izuku. Leave the ghosts of the past where they belong."

"You know, I wouldn't be searching it so much if you just _answered my questions_. You call Decimo controversial and say the family hated him, but he'd achieved more than any other boss in Vongola's history. I didn't even know Sawada family opened the first school for kids with Quirks in the world until I found it in a trash forum. Why is no one talking about that?"

"God, you're impossible." Picking up his whiteboard, Reborn jumped to the nearest window. "I'll be keeping my eye on you from afar. Don't let your guard down. This might be UA, but people who want you dead don't care about that. And if somebody comes after you again, don't hesitate to use _that_."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Izuku with more questions than answers. Again. Possibly the worst part about it was that he was starting to get used to it.

* * *

Not too far away from Musutafu city, in a non-descript warehouse, a deal was finalized.

League of Villains rejoiced, for they had just gained a valuable ally for their first step in dominating Japan.

On the other side, leaving the warehouse behind him, a Vongola representative in an Armani that completely mismatched the location, put a phone to his ear. "This is Kim. Connect me to Thyme."

Seconds later, CEDEF's young agent was on the phone. "Yes?"

"This is Kim. Mission code: revival."

"Agent Kim, mission revival confirmed. Has the arrangement been settled?"

"Yes. But, can you keep this off the record? I have something to say."

There was a moment of tense silence. "You know," Thyme began lightly, "you could get in lots of trouble for this if boss finds out. But yes, you can talk. Recorders are off."

Kim allowed himself a brief smile, casting one more look in the direction of the warehouse. Then the smile disappeared and he sat down in his rented car. "Hate to question your judgement, but these people are total scumbags. I wouldn't trust them with a water bottle, let alone anything more valuable."

Thyme sighed. Even over the phone, he could hear she was exhausted. "I know. That's why we have fail-safes in place. Wish I could give you more, but it's out of my hands. Boss wants that ring. We both know young miss needs it, or the family is done for."

Something in Kim's gut twisted painfully. "We both also know that bringing that ring back will just make things worse."

"Yeah," Thyme agreed grimly. "But we gotta do what we gotta do. For the family's sake."

"Sure, I guess. Even if that means enabling a bunch of nutcases to massacre school kids."

Thyme said nothing. Kim didn't think she would. Maybe his dripping sarcasm was misplaced, because this was as much his fault as it was hers. Maybe a little more. Dropping the call, he drove away from the warehouse and back to his empty hotel room to wait for the results.

Sometimes, he really hated his job.


	5. Hell Week

A/N: First week of school is hell, in more ways than one.

* * *

Reborn's training was brutal. UA's homework, if possible, even more so. Between that, all the other things going on in UA and the fact Izuku was still keenly aware somebody was trying to kill him, was it really that strange he'd found himself napping in front of his laptop when his alarm clock went off?

Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, he stopped the alarm before it could wake up Leon. Certain that the chameleon was getting his healthy dose of sleep, Izuku began to change on autopilot. He was somewhat awake and capable of reading when he sat down in front of his laptop sometime later, trying to remember where he'd left off.

Twelve open, but forgotten tabs greeted him and he wanted to slam his head on the desk.

In the end, he closed them all, eyes flickering on the final one for one last time. Unreliable, trash news website. And yet somehow that website had more concrete information than Izuku had found using any credible sources.

 _Shocking news! Has Japan's youngest billionaire finally settled down?_

The article itself was pure speculation. For all the thought and research put into it, it could've been written by a ten-year-old. Most of it concerned the opening of a Child Care center in a small town north of Tokyo, joint venture of the Sawada Investments and Sasagawa Foundation. At the gala in honor of that opening, Sawada Tsunayoshi had shown up hand in hand with Sasagawa Kyoko and the tabloids went crazy.

In the end, nothing showed any believable evidence of a budding relationship. Most likely couldn't, cause if what Izuku had found before was correct, Sasagawa Kyoko had died not two weeks later.

What the article was useful for, unlike literally any other information source Izuku had tried to use, was a photo. For all the credit Sawada gained in building and managing the Vongola Conglomerate, information on the man himself had been scarce at best. When a shitty tabloid had the best quality photo of the man, taken straight from the above-mentioned gala, something had to be suspicious. And that made the whole thing that much more confusing. The article was close to two hundred years old. From Reborn, it sounded like the baby had been tutoring Sawada when he was in school, making Reborn more than two centuries old. _How?_

"Izuku, are you sure you don't want breakfast?!" his mom called.

He glanced at the clock. "Huh? Oh, crap! I'm gonna be late!"

Closing the browser, Izuku dashed out and nearly crashed into the door. "So sorry, mom, I gotta go!"

"Take care, Izuku!"

He'd find time to question Reborn later. Assuming his tutor didn't decide to play stupid again.

* * *

All Might was a teacher. Bakugou did not see that coming.

Not far behind him, Deku was geeking out over it like the fucking nerd he was. Well, Deku was geeking out over all sorts of shit, all the fucking time, so this was far from unusual. And yet every time Bakugou slammed him into the ground, he got back up. It was getting fucking annoying.

Lots of things about Deku were getting annoying.

Something happened after the Sludge Villain, something that had less to do with Deku's newly discovered Quirk and more to do with that goddamn baby that was there nine times out of ten when Bakugou handed Deku's ass to him. Katsuki just couldn't put his finger on it. He thought he'd figure out if he kicked the shit out of Deku during the entrance exams, but that obviously didn't go according to plan.

What he did figure out eventually was that Deku was constantly holding back when fighting him. It had taken watching him kick up the dust in Bakugou's face during the long distance run for the fact to sink in. Bakugou was fucking speechless and furious about that. At this point, kicking Deku out of UA had been dropped back to one of his last goals. He just wanted to kick the shit out of him at full strength and watching him _dare_ to hold back was fueling Katsuki's rage that much more. Like the little fucker wasn't taking this seriously.

So when All Might announced the battle trial, Katsuki thought this was his chance. Deku and Round Face. He didn't even need Four Eyes, he'd kick both their assess on his own. Which is why he was so furious that Deku looked more anxious about teaming up with Round Face than having to fight Bakugou. He actually couldn't string a sentence together. Just watching him, Bakugou was suffering secondhand embarrassment.

"Ah, um… ah… we should… um…"

"Are you alright? Your face is all red?"

Pulling on his plagiarized All Might hoodie over his face, he screeched, "I'm okay!"

Bakugou wanted to throw up in his mouth. He was about to warn Four Eyes not to get in his way, when Izuku spoke again.

"Actually, Uraraka-san, I have something in mind. There's an ace we can use if things don't go according to plan…"

In other words, little fucker was going to hold back again. Bakugou wanted to fucking explode.

But no. Deku wasn't the only one learning new tricks here. Bakugou hated it, but he spent enough time beating the shit out of him to know what Deku had to be thinking. So he made a decision and grabbed Four Eyes.

Deku could go fuck himself. He was gonna win this one, and he meant it.

* * *

"Whoa! Is that your costume? It's really simple!" For all the excitement in Uraraka's voice, Izuku himself didn't really feel it.

"Um not really," he clarified, gesturing at the green jumpsuit. "My mom made this… but a friend of mine who has some more experience decided to do it too, so I'm using this one temporarily, until his is finished." Well, good thing, it wasn't actually a lie. But why did his face have to burn so much anyway?

"That's so cool!" Uraraka seemed to accept that answer without any question. They both looked to the building where their exercise was going to happen. Kacchan and Iida-san were already inside. They had another minute before they could go in.

"I think, in the end, it's best if we split up," Izuku mused. "I'll keep Kacchan busy while you look for Iida-san and the bomb… Knowing Kacchan, he's not going to try and play the long game."

"So plan A?" Uraraka nodded to herself. "But wow, you know much about Bakugou. Are you friends? He's always yelling at you though…"

Izuku sighed awkwardly. "We just went to the same middle school…" Which was correct, but not really the reason why Izuku was so worried, or determined. "He's somebody I really wanna win against. Even if right now I don't really think I can do it."

Uraraka smiled. "We'll do our best though. Plus your plan is really good."

Izuku tried to hide a blush. But really, he could already see his plan blowing up his face. Most of his plans usually did, after coming in contact with Kacchan. But this was team effort. He didn't actually _need_ to beat Kacchan.

 _Even if that's exactly what he'll expect._

And that was possibly the only reason why this might work.

The signal blared, and the front door of the building opened. It was time.

* * *

Deku was becoming better at predicting Katsuki's moves. It was reaching a point where Deku seemed to know what Bakugou was gonna do before Bakugou himself did, and it was infuriating. The only reason those attacks tended to work anyway was because Bakugou was still faster. All things considered, that wasn't as comforting as it should've been.

Having every single one of his moves countered, though? That was some next level shit, and if Bakugou hadn't been pissed already, now he definitely would be.

He dodged Izuku's metal fist narrowly, but the heat singed his cheek. Blowing Deku's arm was out of question since this was a shitty exercise, but it didn't stop Katsuki from trying anyway. Underestimating Deku was a quick way to earn nasty bruises and Katsuki wanted a clear win.

Which is why this was so fucking annoying.

Deku was buying time. For what, Bakugou had no idea, didn't want to find out and had every intention to stop before it even got started. He blasted chunks of wall right at him, before he was trying for a punch again, but Deku wasn't fighting. He was dodging, observing and occasionally guarding with little success.

Silence over the comm also suggested nothing was happening with Four Eyes. Something was fucking wrong. Was Round Face that dumb that she couldn't even find the room? No way.

Come to think of it, Deku had been muttering shit into that comm of his for a while now. What the hell was he playing at? "I'ma beat you bloody, you shithead!" Bakugou snapped, after yet another one of his attacks failed to deal proper damage. "Come here and get some!"

"Uraraka-san?" Deku practically screeched. And then paled, as they both heard Bakugou's gauntlet click, fully charged. _Finally_. Bakugou grinned, and aimed.

"You're fucking done, Deku!"

"No, you are!"

Three things happened at once.

First, something hit Bakugou on the shoulder.

Second, he was flung up in the air, losing any sense of balance whatsoever while his body twisted in midair, completely out of control.

And third, he pulled the trigger.

Following explosion shook the entire building and beyond, leaving a truck-sized crater in the ground, while Bakugou was flung into the ceiling at full force. He hit the ground and left a crack in already thoroughly ruined floor, only reason his bones weren't broken the fact he was used to his own shockwaves.

Round Face was not that lucky.

Couple feet away, she was trying to sit up and failed, covered in dust, debris and coughing her soul out. Deku was nowhere to be found. On the other side of the hallway, somewhat damaged by the explosion, a window was blown out. And thanks to Round Face, Bakugou was in no state to get up.

"Fuck," Bakugou choked.

Sprawled over the ground and in pain, Uraraka giggled.

* * *

Iida had spent most of the exercise waiting. Well, also cleaning the room to make sure there was nothing Uraraka could make float or use as a trap. Still, with all of Bakugou's explosions ringing downstairs, it just felt like he wasn't doing enough.

Where was Uraraka anyway? She should've been here by now. They hadn't tried to hide the fake nuke _that_ hard.

Shortly after an explosion shook the entire building to the core, Iida's comm blared to life. "I blew it, Four Eyes. Deku is coming. Fucking stop him."

"Midoriya?!" That wasn't part of the plan. "Where from?!"

As if on cue, the window exploded.

Iida had just enough time to protect his face from the shards of glass and fire. Then Midoriya was hurling towards the nuke at breakneck speeds, _flying_ , and the first thing Iida thought was, _that's just not fair_.

Then he was in the top gear he could pull off given the limited space, and dragging the oversized nuke out of Izuku's grip at the last possible second.

* * *

 _I can't believe that worked!_

"Sorry, Deku," Uraraka said over the comm, seconds after Izuku was out the window and flying up. "I won't be joining you upstairs."

Izuku was already hovering out in front of the fifth-floor window at that point. "That's okay." After all, Uraraka had just singlehandedly done the one thing Izuku never could've. And boy was it glorious to behold.

But now Izuku had a mission too.

He pointed his burning hands at the glass, and shattered it. Even with Kacchan's forewarning, Iida never saw it coming. But distance from the window was still working against him, and much to his chagrin, Iida pulled the nuke away from him at the last second.

"Hands of, hero! It is time for us Villains to show you exactly how we work!"

Landing soft, Izuku sucked in a breath. Parts of his jumpsuit were already burned, thanks both to the Dying Will flames and Kacchan. Moreover, he was already so tired, while Iida looked to be ready to do whatever it took to win this. _Crap, it would've been so much better if Uraraka was here!_ As per the original plan, she should've been. But then again, plans usually didn't survive Kacchan. They were lucky things worked out as well as they did. Beating Kacchan without a trick up his sleeve was basically impossible anyway. But beating Iida, on the other hand, Izuku was excited to try.

"Give up, hero! There is no way for you to win this!" Iida yelled.

Izuku just sighed. No wonder Uraraka almost got busted for laughing. Iida taking his role so seriously was all too strange to watch.

Then Iida was charging at him – a thought out, well planned attack which should've worked, because Iida was just too fast for Izuku to catch up with on any day of the week.

It was a completely different thing when Izuku saw it coming from a mile away.

Flying out of the way of Iida's kick at the last moment, Izuku flung himself towards the nuke again. For all that speed, Iida wasn't really that good with instantly changing directions.

Izuku grinned. _Hyper Intuition is amazing!_ Then he slammed into the nuke with his whole body. "Safe!"

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, over the comm, Uraraka burst out laughing again.

* * *

"That was amazing, Deku-kun!" Uraraka cried the moment Izuku and Iida stepped into the Recovery Girl's office. "I watched the video feed later and Iida-kun was all _brrrrrm_ and Deku-kun went _whoooosh_ and Iida-kun's face… pffft!" Hand gestures followed her descriptive praise, until she just started giggling.

Izuku's cheeks burned. Next to him, Iida was sighing dejectedly.

"Well, I will admit, I have seen Midoriya's performance during the entrance exams. But that you could _fly_ …" Iida shook his head. "To score so well in the exam without using that is amazing, Midoriya."

If it was possible, Izuku's cheeks burned even more. "I couldn't really do it during exam though," he murmured awkwardly.

"You mean that's new?" Uraraka's shock made it that much more awkward.

"Ah, no, I mean… it's complicated…" the less they knew about his ring and gloves, the better. And considering how little he knew about his still coming gear, well… Izuku cleared his throat. "Um, but forget that. How are you, Uraraka-san? I didn't know Kacchan's explosion was gonna be that…" _huge_. Oh boy, even with Dying Will flames, if Izuku tried taking that on, he was pretty sure he'd be lying around in bed for at least a day or so.

Uraraka was already up and swinging her legs, though, giggling, even if now she was looking away from them shyly. "I'm alright, really. I mean I still have dust in my hair and my costume and possibly my ears, so I need a really good shower, but all good! Recovery Girl fixed me really fast!"

And apparently had done same to Bakugou. Not that he'd stayed long enough for Izuku to tell him anything. Come to think of it, Bakugou would've seen the feeds by now, too. Meaning he'd had realized Izuku had been keeping a secret, sort of. _He's gonna_ _freak out._ _So much._ Oof. Izuku was glad the training sessions had all but stopped once school started. He had more than enough on his plate already. At least Reborn had given his thumbs up after the exercise, so that was a bullet dodged.

"So are you going to come for afternoon class?" Iida asked.

Uraraka nodded energetically. "Yep! Just waiting for Recovery Girl to come back and then I'm coming. I'll see you there, alright?"

Taking that as their cue to leave, Izuku and Iida did accordingly. Nobody wanted to be late to Present Mic's class anyway.

* * *

"Young Midoriya!"

Midoriya and all the other young students stopped in place, spinning around to see All Might walking towards them. Midoriya then paled.

"U-Uraraka-san… am I seeing things? Is All Might talking to me? All Might is actually talking to me?"

"You're such a funny person, Deku."

At this point, Midoriya was shaking. All Might sighed. "Stop that. All three of you, good work today. Keep working hard!"

All Might wanted to smack himself. This wasn't what he intended to say. _But I can't very well do it with young Iida and Uraraka-chan here…_ He was so bad at this, damn it.

"Thanks, All Might!" all three cheered.

Well, with smiles like that, maybe it was better not to try after all. For now. Maybe. Then he chewed out Uraraka and for her reckless behavior, and Midoriya for suggesting it in the first place, and Iida for being much too rash when he already had home field advantage, then he praised the misdirection tactics and hopefully at least he was doing his job as a teacher right.

He'd talk to Midoriya on serious matters some other time.

* * *

Next day, Uraraka grinned at Izuku and his state of dress. "No costume yet?"

Keenly aware of just how badly his metal gloves fit with the UA gym uniform, Izuku's cheeks burned. "Not yet, looks like." At this point, he was getting impatient. Leon's size was scary. Falling in line with everyone when it was finally time to head for the rescue training, Izuku flexed his fingers. The gloves really needed fixing, and soon. _Sigh._

All of 1-A's jaws collectively fell when the bus dropped them off in front of a huge dome in the middle of forest.

"This is USJ, right?" Hagakure asked, as the door opened into a structure that was half below ground level, containing artificially created fields for every disaster imaginable. "This has to be USJ! Isn't it in the wrong place? Just, whoa!"

All Might would've just grinned at her, but since he wasn't there, she'd have to settle for Aizawa's no-nonsense look. At least Thirteen seemed to find their reaction amusing.

And wow! Thirteen as a teacher! UA was getting better and better! Izuku was all too giddy when Thirteen broke out into explanations of everything hero work related, from Quirk responsibility to disaster reactions and rescue procedures. Which was why, when his attention drifted, he was initially surprised at himself. But then the nagging feeling that something was out of place wouldn't leave him, pushing him to look for it. Aizawa-sensei scolded him for not paying attention, but Izuku's stomach was rapidly sinking. What was it? Where–?

 _There. The square._

"Aizawa-sensei!" he screamed. But hyper intuition or not, Aizawa was still leagues ahead of him, holding his binding weapon at the ready. Electricity blew out all the lights, and the loud mechanism that closed the main entrance rang clearly.

"Stand back," sensei ordered. "Thirteen, protect the students!"

By this point, everybody saw it. Swirling mist down in the square, twisting and mixing with the air, bending the space. Little by little, something emerged from the inside. People?

 _Villains_ , Izuku's subconscious told him.

Dozens of them. More. Armed to their teeth, with Quirks that looked menacing enough to be threatening on their own. In a group, they were terrifying. There were at least four villains per each student, and more were coming out of the mist. Thirteen called them to stand back, let Eraserhead take care of it, but how could Eraserhead possibly take care of _this?_

"Eh? So All Might is not here? We went through all this trouble to bring so many people, and All Might is not here?!"

Somewhere behind Izuku, Uraraka and Jiro froze. "All... Might?"

"Well, then. He'll surely show up if we kill a couple kids. But let's do what needs to be done first."

"Get back!" Eraserhead yelled again, goggles falling in place as he launched towards the villain crowd. No, Izuku wanted to say. That wasn't _it_. But he didn't know what _it_ was – until somebody screamed, and mist began to form behind them, cutting them off from the exit. Yellow and purple flashed, and everyone was enveloped in the mist before they had a chance to react.

Darkness, twisting and weightlessness was all Izuku knew. Then he was falling towards the water, not fast enough to activate the flames before he hit the surface, _hard._

He kicked and trashed, trying to figure out which way was up or down without much success. Flames wouldn't work, and he was short on air – and somebody was pulling onto the chain around his neck. _NO!_ Flames burst out, burning the hand, but water snuffed them out immediately. Twisting and spinning, Izuku kicked off of somebody's head to swim up, finally aware of which direction was which. His lungs burned for oxygen, only getting a mouthful before something pulled him back under.

He kicked more violently than before. He needed a moment. A second out of the water, that was all it would take. But something was pulling on the chain around his neck, with more strength than before, strangling him in the process, and he couldn't get it off.

 _Not... enough... air..._

Reborn's words flashed in his mind. Constant vigilance. Izuku _tried_. But last place he thought the mafia would come for him was the school.

 _I need... air!_

Grip on his leg slipped for a fraction of a second, but that was enough. Pushing off of somebody gave him the break he needed. The chain around his neck snapped, but Izuku caught the ring the last moment before it could slip out of his hands forever. Kicking off of the closest villain, he was swimming back up, even as something wrapped around his leg. His hands broke past the water surface for a moment only, but a moment was all it took. Flames blazed to life, and he was unstoppable.

In seconds he was high in the air, dragging the water-snake villain with him. Then he twisted so he was upside down, thumb and index fingers touching while he dropped out of the air back towards the water and dozens of villains waiting. Familiar tingling in his fingers and arms, Izuku sucked in a breath.

"Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition."

Ice encased everything. The water, the ship, the villains.

Then Izuku hit the frozen surface in a three-point landing, free hand gripping the water-snake villain's neck, breathing ragged as the flame on his head flickered out. Wiggling out of his grip, the slimy villain landed on the surface, crawling away as fast as it could. "You're crazy, kid!"

Izuku shivered as he tried to stand. Then something in his knee cracked. " _Ow!_ "

Falling back on his butt, he wiped the sweat from his brow. His breathing had yet to be back under control. _That... was so close. Oh God, that was so, so close, I almost_ —No. He wouldn't go there. Nope. He was fine. He was going to be completely fine. But right, now he was completely and utterly drained. And from what little he could see, fights were raging all over the place.

 _I need to help them._

Climbing on his feet, he took a step. And promptly fell flat on his face.


	6. Hell Week pt2

A/N: USJ gets out of hand and we bid canon a tearful goodbye. So long, thanks for everything and... who am I even kidding? We'll be seeing you again soon enough.

* * *

In the seconds after the attack started, they were scattered. _It was planned_ , Yaoyorozu realized as she swam her way back to the shore. Not that this kind of attack would've been possible without a significant amount of pre-planning. Her phone was busted the moment she hit the water, but she doubted anybody else would be able to use theirs too.

Drying her hair with impromptu towel, she was a little surprised to find Kaminari lingering not too far away, lost on which way to go. He beamed the moment he saw her. "Are you okay? Damn, can't believe villains just _showed up_..."

Momo hardly blamed him, she'd had enough trouble accepting the fact herself. Main square was a fair distance away, but Aizawa-sensei was fighting in earnest. Which at no point meant they were safe. Villains could've been teleported just as easily – must've, otherwise there would be no point in scattering the students. Yet there was nobody in vicinity, which could mean one of two things. And Yaoyorozu sincerely doubted it was a coincidence.

"Did you perhaps see anybody else fall into the water?" she asked.

As if to answer her question, the whole indoor lake froze in its entirety. Sudden drop in temperature had them shivering, Momo especially, and they spun around, wide-eyed, catching whiff of movement on the other side. Kaminari cursed under his breath. "... guess it's Todoroki. _Damn_. Phones are not working, by the way."

Of course not. Momo sighed. "I don't think that's Todoroki," was as far as she got, pair of binoculars forming in front of her eyes. Then she gasped. "Midoriya?!"

"What?" Kaminari blanched. "So he's got a dual Quirk like Todoroki? That's just not fair!"

"I think not," Yaoyorozu said, "but that's irrelevant. He's down. And there are villains not too far from him! We must move. How are your ice-skating skills, Kaminari-san?"

"Ice skating?" Then he grinned, realization dawning on him when he noticed the metal sticking out of Momo's arm. Taking into consideration Midoriya's relative position, the size of the frozen lake and the limited amount of time, going straight through was their best option. "Well. I guess I'm a bit rusty, but sure?"

Momo smiled. Well then, it was a good thing they were on the same page.

* * *

"Stand back!" Thirteen yelled.

Uraraka had yet to come back to her senses. First the villains had appeared inside the USJ. Then one second, Deku was there, and the next one he was gone, along with most of the class. Only Thirteen's quick reaction stopped the few of them left from being misplaced as well. Shoji was helping Ashido up. Satou was standing guard. If she didn't like her shoes so much, Uraraka would've missed Hagakure completely, hovering near Shoji and Ashido. Even more so since her gloves were gone.

And cutting their way to the exit, the villain who'd warped everyone away was still standing there. Thirteen was pointing his finger – and the gate opened up behind him. Uraraka was too late to scream. Watching parts of the Pro hero she loved disintegrating before her very eyes under his own quirk, she was frozen in place.

Shoji was the first to snap out of it, and therefore to snap everyone else out of it too. "Hagakure-san, you're our best chance! We'll make a way for you!"

"EH? What do you-?" Hagakure cut herself off. She must've realized it too, the single advantage she had over the villain before them. Then Ashido and Shouji launched themselves at the villain. Uraraka watched in horror as the black mist opened before them.

"NO!" she screamed, body moving into the fray before she could think better of it. She wasn't about to let anyone get pulled into this, no way. Her fingers passed through mist, feeling nothing, until she touched metal. _Yes!_ Then she activated her Quirk, and slamming the villain into the ground was the easiest thing in the world. "Go, Tooru-chan!"

"Yes!"

But it was only once Uraraka had the villain down that she realized Ashido and Shoji were both gone. She'd been too late after all. Satou mirrored her look of panic. Thirteen was unconscious, and unlikely to move in the case he might actually open his eyes. Aizawa-sensei was handling the villains in the square, but some of them still made it through, and were headed their way.

"One of them escaped," the villain hissed. Uraraka ripped the com from his barely noticeable ear and put it in her own.

"No matter," a voice said. "We've got the outside crew waiting for on their gift after all."

 _… Crap. Tooru-chan !_

Lesson learned from her fight with Bakugou, Uraraka slammed the villain into the ground the hardest she could. It wouldn't knock him out, possibly wouldn't hold him down for long, but she didn't need time. "Satou, Tooru-chan is in danger! We gotta help her!"

"Right!"

* * *

"Midoriya? Midoriya!"

Izuku tried to pry his eyes open, without much success. He was cold, his head hurt, and he was pretty sure the bone in his knee cracked. Then someone screamed, and he was halfway up, almost bumping his head with Kaminari.

"What the-? What's going on? Who was it?!"

Kaminari grabbed his arm before he could pathetically fall back down. "Easy, man! It's just Yaoyorozu kicking ass, don't worry. I can't _believe_ you froze the whole friggin lake."

 _I did?_ One look was all it took to confirm that hadn't been a dream after all. Which meant the villains hadn't been a nightmare, either. Not too far from them, Yaoyorozu slammed a staff right into a villain's groin. Both boys winced. Then she kicked him aside, short on breath and skated back towards them. It was only now that Izuku noticed the four other villains she'd dealt with while he'd been out.

"Midoriya, how long before the ice melts?" she asked.

"Uh... it won't."

"At _all?_ " Kaminari gasped. "What the hell?"

Izuku gulped, and tried not to think about all the villains that had been in the water when he'd done it. _They'll be fine_. The cat he'd accidentally frozen during his training had been, after all. "I, uh... I gotta melt it myself," he explained. Which was the reason Reborn had insisted he learn this after the first time he'd nearly died. Perfect immobilization tool, no matter how much trouble Izuku had mastering it. _I guess I have it down now. Sort of._ Area of effect was... much bigger than he'd expected.

Yaoyorozu nodded, throwing her staff away as she sat down on the ground. "I need a minute," she said, shivering. "I don't think the villains know our Quirks, which gives us an advantage. But there is only so much we can do with so many of them."

That wasn't a comforting thought. Glancing at the ring that had fallen out of his hand after he'd passed out, Izuku realized the only reason no one had taken it was because Kaminari and Yaoyorozu must've shown up before they could. A pang of gratitude beyond what could be voiced in words washed over him. Then he climbed back to his feet, helping Yaoyorozu up as well.

"We can't stay here," he offered in explanation. _They knew I can't fight in the water. There's no telling how many of them want the ring, but they'll know where to come and get it._ Which he couldn't say, damn it all. The very thought this invasion might be his fault made his stomach queasy. Even worse, when he recalled the one thing they'd all heard, before they were scattered around. "The villains were surprised All Might wasn't here. They were expecting him."

"Pre-planned, they knew our schedule," Yaoyorozu agreed. "Given the scale, they must believe they have a means of defeating him."

Which was more disturbing than just about any conclusion Izuku had come to himself. Was it connected? Did the villains know about All Might's time limit? Izuku hadn't said a word to a soul, not even his mom or Reborn... but Reborn had assured him many times that Vongola would come for him prepared. Exhibit a: dumping him in the water. Did that mean they could've somehow found out about All Might as well? But how?

 _No, worry about this later._ "Calling help might be playing right into their hand," he realized.

It took a second for Yaoyorozu to understand what he meant. All Might would come, definitely. It wouldn't even take a word. "But we have no choice. There's too many of them. Best thing we can do now is help Aizawa-sensei until help comes."

 _Yes, maybe, if..._ but no. Looking at the surface around him and how far the ice stretched, the idea was theoretically possible. If they could gather enough villains in one place, then in theory, he would be able to keep them there. But Izuku was barely standing. Reborn called the Dying Will flames a representation of his own resolve, therefore the amount he could use depended purely on his determination. In practice, it wasn't that easy. Resolve was hard to come by when the thing he wanted most in the world was to crash and sleep for a week.

 _Wait a second._

Izuku looked around again, he looked everywhere. Yaoyorozu and Kaminari were looking at him weird, but it didn't matter. Reborn had already sneaked into highly secure places before. What were the odds he'd done it again? _I would've known already, he wouldn't let this happen_ — except for all he knew, his tutor might just would've. And he'd call it training, too.

Still, if Reborn was anywhere in vicinity, then there was one thing that would get his attention.

"Um, Yaoyorozu-san... you create things, right?"

She nodded.

Izuku wondered how to say this and not make it sound weird. "Uh, can you think of any way we can blow up the roof?"

"I... _what?_ "

* * *

Tsuyu couldn't breathe.

Fire, everywhere. She'd evaded two villains before she'd succumbed to her surroundings. After that, there was only so much she could do just to focus. Oxygen was hard to come by, but the lack of moisture was doing her more damage by the second. In the end, best she'd managed to do was climb her way on top of an eight-floor building. From afar, she could see where her part of the dome ended – but she had no strength to head over there.

She wasn't sure how much time passed before the first wave of freshness hit her. It was a surprise, it was _hot_ , consequence of water evaporating quickly, but even that was better than all the dry heat that was threatening to kill her. Focusing, she turned around, trying to find the source.

Then a giant wall of ice exploded somewhere on her left, just a few blocks away. It was rapidly melting away, but that made it all the better. Tsuyu jumped.

And minutes later, kicked a villain in the face before he could get the drop on Todoroki.

The boy turned, surprised. "Asui?"

"I hope you don't mind me joining, _ribbit._ I've been having some trouble with the heat."

Shaking away the surprise, Todoroki shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Then he erected yet another wall of ice, and Tsuyu smiled. _How considerate of him_. "Exit is right ahead," she informed him.

"Let's go."

* * *

There was a limit to what Aizawa could do. He was relearning that, brutally, and without repercussions. The villains coming at him were small fry, individually easily beaten by school kids, although part of him hoped his class never got a chance to figure that out for themselves. Their advantage was in numbers, preparation and the fact that, as much as he hated it, Aizawa couldn't stop every single Quirk. But he'd be damned if he didn't try anyway.

Possibly the worst part of this attack was that, in spite of the dozens of villains he was only barely keeping at bay, there were others, quite a few of them, that hadn't attempted to attack at all. In fact, one of them, the one Aizawa deduced to be the leader, angrily pulled a communicator from his ear and stomped on it.

"Kurogiri is useless," he snapped. Much to the shock of pretty much everybody else. "Outside crew still doesn't have it. What are you scum waiting for? Gentlemen in suits made their request! Go get it for them, before they decide to send in some of their own!"

 _What?_ From what he'd heard before, the villains here were looking to draw All Might out. That they had another goal besides the obvious was concerning at best, catastrophic at worst. What was it? The students? Did they have something they weren't supposed to? More importantly, somebody _hired_ them. Who? And why?

Aizawa wasn't going to get his answers just standing idly by.

Spinning a villain round and round to get as many of them as possible, finally he flung the guy towards the upper echelon. His students might need to fight off some small fry. But well, he judged them all capable of it, anyway. Right now, there was bigger fish to fry. If he managed to stop this one, hopefully the rest of them would run with their tail between their legs.

* * *

Hagakure screeched the moment she was out of the USJ and found two men in black suits standing guard. And, damn it, that blew her cover almost immediately. One of them reached for a knife, but after a second of panic, Hagakure realized that even if he'd heard her, he didn't really know where she was. _Oh thank god I remembered to take the shoes off!_

Then, taking a quick breath, she broke into a sprint.

They could hear her, but for as long as she was barefoot, there was no way they would be able to see her. Within minutes she was at the bus, momentarily panicking when she realized the driver had a dart sticking out of his neck. She found her phone fast, but no signal icon blinked at her. _Damn it!_ How far would she have to go for this to work?

She didn't make it too far before she heard Uraraka and Satou's battle cry as they confronted the door guards. That was possibly the only reason why she saw it. A flash. And a dart that hit the tree trunk inches from her face.

"AAAAH!"

And then she was running again, frantically searching for the zone where the signal might work again.

* * *

Kim silently cursed, grip on his sniper easing a fraction. He'd had a clear shot. Still did. The forest was everywhere, but in sheer panic, kid didn't even try to hide there. If he'd seriously been trying to kill her, she would've been long dead. But invisibility was one trick he hadn't been counting on. If he hadn't seen the dome open and that phone floating in mid-air, chances were he'd never have figured it out anyway.

 _That's it, those bastards blew it._ The deal had been clear. For as long as things were kept inside the dome, Vongola wouldn't interfere. But if, at some point, anyone made it out, that was it. Cooperation was over. Vongola agents were free to get in, get what they need, and the League would have to deal with the fallout on their own.

Finger moving to his earpiece to give the order, he froze. Cold metal touched his temple.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a childish voice said.

From the corner of his eye, most Kim could see was a face obscured by a fedora. "So it is you," he surmised in low voice, as threatening as he could sound. Which, unfortunately, wasn't a lot, considering he was the one with the barrel of a gun to his head. "They call you a legend. Vongola's Shadow Enforcer. The world's greatest hitman. You're supposed to be _dead_. And yet here you are, doing exactly the opposite of what your title would imply."

"I never had much attachment to it, anyway," Reborn dismissed. "Didn't think Vongola would go after a bunch of school kids," he remarked with barely concealed disgust. "You've been scrapping the bottom of the barrel for the past few decades, but this is a new low. Guess it's a good thing I left when I did."

Hands in the air, Kim moved away from his sniper and sighed. "Thyme warned me you might show up. Said you made a deal." He scoffed. "Like Vongola has any business dealing with traitors."

If the name calling bothered him, the tiny hitman didn't show it. He put his gun down, and Kim released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Obviously you've opted for child killers instead."

Kim's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Are you the contingency measure Thyme mentioned?"

"Who knows?" Reborn said blandly. "I'm curious, though. What are you doing? I get it, ring is important, blah blah blah. But Vongola survived two centuries without it, why start caring now? Any normal procedure would've involved recruiting the kid into the family, one way or another. What brought _this_ on?"

"Boss's orders," Kim hissed, "are absolute."

"Rubbish. Ria is rash and childish, maybe a tad desperate, but she wouldn't do this. What are you _really_ after?"

There, just as he said it, realization dawned on Kim. Thyme had been telling the truth, and Reborn had indeed spent a short while running around the mansion under their noses. _That's what makes him a contingency measure,_ he realized. A fail-safe, one to be used if everything else went to hell, whether the little hitman knew it or not. _You've gotten much better in playing the game, Thyme... but a traitor remains a traitor, no matter what._

Kim glared defiantly, refusing to say a word.

Then the roof of the dome exploded, and Reborn smiled.

"Fine, I'll figure it out myself," he said. "But first things first. My student needs help."

Crimson dart hit Kim on the chest before he could move. The same ammunition he used. _Damn it, Thyme._ Then he blinked, but already, the hitman was gone.

And so was Kim's consciousness.

* * *

Izuku sucked in a breath, and covered his head. Yaoyorozu and Kaminari followed. Then, at the very center of the dome roof, an improvised bomb exploded. Villains that hadn't noticed Izuku when he'd flown to set it up, surely noticed him now.

But it didn't really matter, because, considering where the explosion happened, there was nobody in the dome who wouldn't have noticed it. So in a way, the bomb had done what it was intended for it to do. Get everyone's attention.

Aizawa-sensei and the villains he'd been fighting jumped out of the way of a basketball-sized piece of wall that had collapsed in. More pieces followed. It gave Izuku and Yaoyorozu the perfect chance to kick two of the villains closest to Aizawa in the face.

"Jump, sensei!" Yaoyorozu yelled.

He did.

Just in time for Yaoyorozu's thin shield to separate them from the sparks along the ground that followed.

"1300000 VOLTS!"

The electric discharge got just about every villain in vicinity, bodies toppling over left and right. Izuku, Yaoyorozu and Aizawa timed their landing right, all breathing a sigh of relief when they straightened. Izuku was pretty sure Aizawa was going to scold them for this first chance he got. But until then, majority of the villains were down; all sans for one. That ought to at least help them hold out until other heroes arrived. And deal with those villains still standing.

The biggest, ugliest one, with what looked like half his brain visible, skin that was almost pitch black and a beak that looked nothing like a bird's. Somehow, he was completely unfazed by the attack – and, sitting on his shoulder, was another villain. Hands. Hands everywhere. Just looking at him, Izuku felt his guts twisting. He knew they wouldn't be able to get everyone, but were the scariest ones really the ones that just had to keep standing?

One eye on Kaminari waddling his thumbs around with barely any awareness of the situation, he moved, positioning himself so he'd be able to watch out for him in case anyone else tried to get up again.

"Are you alright, Aizawa-sensei?" Yaoyorozu asked immediately, although she looked more ragged than sensei himself.

"Get Kaminari out of here," sensei ordered. "Check if anyone else is in a pinch. I'll handle this."

Nodding, at each other, Izuku and Yaoyorozu chorused. "Yessir!" Then they were on their way, dragging Kaminari along. The villains had their eyes on them, as Izuku expected would happen, but Aizawa cut into their way before they could do anything.

And the villain tore through him, like he was no more than a stuffed toy.

Izuku and Yaoyorozu only saw it out of the corner of their eye, but even that was too much. "SENSEI!"

Time slowed, like somebody had hit the slow-motion button on a video. A second ago, Izuku and Yaoyorozu were watching Aizawa take a stand to protect them, buy them time to get away and continue the run-and-gun tactics they'd come up with on the fly.

Then Aizawa-sensei was down, blood everywhere, and the villain was gone in a blur of motion.

"Why, _hello_. How very nice of you to come on your own."

Izuku and Yaoyorozu turned, all too slow.

"You kids saved me the trouble of looking. I'll take that, thank you very much."

By the time they saw it, it was all too late. One villain was going for Kaminari and Yaoyorozu, while the other one had his hand outstretched, reaching for Izuku's ring again.

 _I can't let him touch me_ , passed through his mind like a mantra. Dying Will flames wouldn't help. Izuku didn't know how he knew that, but he did. Probably intuition. He knew better than to question it, though, even if he was keenly aware that there was nothing he could do.

A gunshot rang throughout the dome, loud and clear. Hand that had nearly caught Izuku slid past him, skin that briefly touched sending jolts along his arm. The villain's body hit the ground at Izuku's feet, a crimson dart with a devil emoji sticking out of his back. Izuku breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Even if he couldn't see him, Reborn was there, and for some crazy reason, that made Izuku feel that much better.

"Shigaraki!" The black mist formed out of nowhere, the villain who'd scattered them all cradling his fallen friend. "NO! Shigaraki! Wake up! Pull yourself together! The Noumu is about to get out of control-"

And the villain who'd been after Yaoyorozu screeched in a voice that was in no way human.

* * *

A/N: I'm so late on responding to all your comments! Thank you so much guys, even if I haven't replied to you yet, I really appreciate your support. This is the first time I'm writing anything this action oriented so any advice, critic or remark you can come up with would mean so much!


	7. Partner in Crime

A/N: All Might is Dad Might, even at the expense of his own sanity.

* * *

Yaoyorozu could've died.

In that moment, Yaoyorozu should've died.

She only realized that later, after she was sent flying courtesy of All Might himself. Landing had been a bit hard on her joints, but considering it could've easily been a fist that sent All Might skidding over half the square, she had nothing to complain about. Midoriya, Kaminari and the unconscious villain weren't as lucky.

Shockwave from the punch All Might had taken sent all three of them flying, Midoriya's habitual flying the only thing that saved him and Kaminari from some undue damage. But when he landed back down, he didn't look like he'd be able to do that again. And that villain going by Shigaraki was still firmly out, the warp villain cradling him, but his eyes moving from the monster, to All Might, to Midoriya. And lingering there. What? Why?

Come to think of it, at least half the villains they'd encountered had gone after Midoriya only. It might've seemed like coincidence at first, but thinking back, they all seemed to be at least somewhat aware of his Quirk. And Midoriya seemed to had been expecting it. Thinking back to his facial expressions prior to setting the bomb, hoped for it, even. _Why?_

Even Shigaraki, the leader himself, had gone for him first. Shigaraki, who might've not looked like much else besides creepy, but he was undoubtedly in charge. On its own, it had looked like an accident, but with all the other oddities, it was obviously intentional. And if it was intended, then what did that mean for this attack? What did it say about Midoriya himself? What did he have that the villains wanted so bad?

In the end, it didn't matter. Because somebody had shot Shigaraki, somebody had shot him from the roof.

The roof, which had a hole blown in it, because Midoriya wanted it to be there.

 _What does all this mean?_

Yaoyorozu didn't know. But she decided that any questions she might have about that would be reserved for later. Kaminari was still in no state to defend himself, and Midoriya wasn't that much better off. The Warp Villain had yet to make his move – he was watching All Might now. All Might, who was fighting the Noumu monster, and by the looks of it, _losing_.

 _No, it's All Might. Do what you can, worry later!_

Yaoyorozu took her chance to rejoin the boys, kicking a thug along the way as he tried to get up. She helped Midoriya drag Kaminari away. "Can you stand? We must get Aizawa-sensei out of here!" Aizawa-sensei, who hadn't so much as moved a muscle ever since that monster punched him aside like a doll. There was so much blood.

Midoriya was quick to assist her. By the time they could move him, the Warp Villain and the leader were gone. Most of the thugs in the square were beaten. Those who weren't, they weren't planning on staying long with All Might around. All Might, who had yet to do any damage to the monster.

And Midoriya, again, who couldn't tear his eyes away. Not that Momo was better off. A shockwave had them kidding back even at such a great distance, they could barely move. She could only imagine how Aizawa felt with all the tumbling.

 _If I could just create a stretcher_...

Weak. So terribly weak. Yaoyorozu hated it. The limit she was only aware of after she'd already reached it.

 _Do what you can first_ , she reminded herself. Then snapped Midoriya out of his own shock. Aizawa-sensei needed their help. This was not the time to be afraid.

* * *

 _All Might overdid it._

The first time that thought crossed Izuku's mind today, Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen had been signaling it to each other, and they didn't know Izuku figured it out, that he had enough background information to understand its meaning.

Nobody did. _But if he keeps going this way, they_ _will_.

If villains heard of that limit, there would be nothing, _nothing_ to stop them from attacking All Might again. _Assuming they don't win this first._ Which was looking more and more like a possibility. Knowing that there was somebody out there strong enough to rival All Might and that somebody was actively on the villains' side, it made Izuku shudder.

 _I need to do something._ But what?

 _No, wait. There, from the fire zone-_

"Shoji! Asui!" Yaoyorozu's call got their attention immediately. "Oh my, are you alright?!"

"Thanks to Todoroki," Asui said. She paled the moment she saw Aizawa's condition. "The Villains did this?"

"We need to hurry," Shoji said. "I'll carry him."

"Thanks! Come on, we should get out – Midoriya?" There was a look on Yaoyorozu's face. A look that said, _wait, don't_. Look with far too many questions, far too many doubts, even if all she did was call his name. "Midoriya, wait!"

But Izuku was already running back. "All Might needs help!" Which was ridiculous, All Might was unbeatable, he was a symbol of peace, the greatest hero in the world.

He was running out of time, and nobody else had any idea about it. Izuku _had_ to go.

Flame burst out on his hands, his forehead. There was no stopping him anymore.

* * *

Ultimately, there had been little that Midoriya Izuku could do against the Noumu. Dying Will flames harmlessly bounced off of Noumu's thick skin, and any damage that stuck was quickly reversed with its regenerative abilities. If Todoroki hadn't interfered moments later, Izuku suspected not even All Might would've been able to prevent what happened. But freezing the Noumu had been about as ineffective as Izuku's flames.

At the very least, they'd just bought All Might time – something he'd desperately needed – until the rest of the teachers arrived, along with the police and the emergency services.

After that, there hadn't been much to save the villain from a quick arrest. Even if it had taken so much of All Might's strength.

Izuku didn't know if all the professors were perhaps aware of All Might's time limit. He supposed they were, because Cementoss-sensei had gone out of his way to separate students from the place of the battle, redirecting the students to head to the medical personnel.

Quick check-up diagnosed Tsuyu with dehydration. Izuku got scolded for overworking his body, but the most he'd suffered was a light knee injury that would heal in no time. Uraraka had a few scraps and bruises, Shoji had pulled a muscle and a villain dropped a building on Kacchan. Given how much effort the villain had put into that, it must've been highly frustrating to see Kacchan get away with a couple nasty bruises. Rest of them had gone mostly without injuries, even if all of them remained shell-shocked throughout the preliminary questioning done by detective Tsukauchi.

Thirteen and Aizawa had suffered the worst injuries, but All Might wasn't that far behind. They'd all been moved to the nearest hospital. Critical, Izuku had heard someone whisper.

Seventy-two villains had been arrested. Twenty of them Izuku had to unfreeze from the lake. He was half terrified waiting for the questions about his Quirk to come, but they never did. Another hallmark of Reborn's string pulling behind the scenes. Izuku recalled he'd been wondering a few times, whether he should be worried about that. Now he wondered no more, not when the answer had so obviously been sitting in front of his nose.

When he finally went home, later that evening, his mom waited for him with bloated eyes, tissues everywhere. Somebody from school must've called, or maybe the police. Izuku didn't ask. He was too tired to try, and yet even so he'd let her spend the rest of the evening switching between asking about his well-being and crying about the attack. Izuku tuned out roughly five words into the talk, occasionally tuning back in. Namely, when she asked about professors and insinuated that the attack was somehow their fault.

It was a punch to the gut, but Izuku didn't have the heart to tell her it was his fault instead. So he didn't. Instead he just listened with one ear and stared at the ring on his finger, wondering how he hadn't noticed it before.

Power. Ambition.

The Vongola Sky ring seemed to be the true embodiment of those traits, offering it's weilder both. Without the power of the ring, Izuku would've never had the kind of mindset to reach out for his dream. _Ambition_. Idly, he wondered whether the villains saw it that way, too?

Reborn was in his room when he got there, after mom more or less forced him to go cause he'd nearly fallen asleep watching TV. His tutor was grading Izuku's homework; he'd recognized the notebook. Reborn hadn't even looked up from it.

Izuku had stopped truly questioning things about Reborn so long ago, it would almost feel like backtracking if he tried now. He didn't understand how somebody secretive and complicated could make him feel so trustworthy. For somebody in such a young body, he looked so old.

"Leon finished your costume," Reborn said instead of a greeting. Izuku spared a quick glance for the large package resting on his bed. All the time he'd spent worrying about his costume now felt so alien. Still, out of habit, Izuku went to Leon and passed him a snack. Somehow, seeing him back in old size made it all the more surreal.

Izuku sat down at the bottom of his bed, eyes on All Might's poster.

"School is canceled tomorrow," he said.

"Naturally," Reborn said. It sounded almost dismissive, yet wasn't.

"Zero Point Breakthrough scared me so much."

"Because it's not yours."

"None of this is mine." The not-quirk, the ring, the dream. Perhaps dreaming of being a hero was something that belonged to him, but living it by using things that didn't made it equally unattainable. An equal amount of a lie.

Izuku wondered if he'd made a mistake. He wondered if it was too late to fix it.

Reborn dropped his homework and came to sit close. "Vongola Sky ring isn't something you can _take_ ," he said. "Either it chooses you, believes you worthy of its power, or it doesn't. It's that simple."

It didn't feel that simple. Not with so many villains reaching for it, not with so many of his classmates' fearful and apprehensive faces, not with his teachers in the hospital.

"They're not going to stop, are they?" Izuku found himself asking. "They'll keep coming, and coming and coming, until they get what they want, no matter what disaster they may leave behind." He didn't look at Reborn. He imagined his tutor looked about as grim as Izuku felt.

"Maybe," Reborn said. "One way or another, it's not something that should cause you this much turmoil. You knew this might happen from the start."

True, but how? How was he supposed to deal with this? With people getting hurt left and right, with people coming after Izuku and hurting everyone he could be associated with? He might've accepted this risk, but the rest of them never had a choice.

Reborn must've read his mind, as usual, because he tossed his phone at Izuku. On it, there was a video. An old warehouse, limited lighting. He recognized the hand villain from USJ, even if large part of him was obscured thanks to a man in a suit. Izuku didn't need to guess who that had to be.

"So you claim that you will be executing this bold scheme whether we assist you or not?" the man in the suit was asking, borderline antagonistic in a slightly accented Japanese.

The hand villain launched into a speech, one that included the hero society, everything that was wrong with it. A speech about All Might and a long list of words Izuku vaguely remembered being a part of gaming slang. It was only afterwards they'd started negotiating a deal, about a list of things Izuku didn't quite understand, but had heard somewhere before. He didn't finish the video. He didn't have the strength.

"So you mean to say it wasn't my fault," he surmised tiredly. Could barely believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"I mean to say, whether you wish to see it or not, this world needs heroes," Reborn said. "Don't be so narrow-minded to shoulder responsibility on your back. Heroism might be a profession now, but very little has changed in its core. It has always been a mindset. You have proven over and over that you have what it takes right here." Reborn put a hand to his heart. "This is not the time for you to be judging yourself over things that were beyond your control. You did the best you could with what you had. And for that, I'm proud of you, Izuku."

"Not yet," Izuku whimpered. "I haven't done all I could yet."

Tears burned his cheeks. He wiped them away and made his decision. He tried not to think of Reborn's smile as encouragement. _Tried_.

Then sluggishly he made his way to the closet and pulled out a jacket. "I'm going for a walk," he managed, tired and croaked. Crouched down to Leon to scratch the reptile under his throat. "Thank you for the costume, Leon. I hope you don't mind that I'll take a look at it later."

"Don't take too long," Reborn said, that look in his eyes as if he already knew where he wanted to go. "I want to tell you something important when you're back."

"Is tomorrow morning okay?" Izuku asked. He'd had it with groundbreaking discoveries for the next month.

"It's important, not urgent," Reborn said. As if somehow those two things were mutually exclusive. Then again, to him they probably were.

"Okay," Izuku said.

Two hours later found him in the precisely last place where he wanted to be. Lights at Recovery Girl's office were still on. Maybe this had been a terrible decision after all .

* * *

When he heard he had a visitor, All Might wasn't too surprised. The day had been full of twists and turns, and his condition wasn't all too good. Still better than he could've hoped for, after the faithful encounter with a monster. Point being, he'd been expecting somebody to come with questions sooner rather than later, even if Tsukauchi had already done a significant amount of work.

What he didn't expect was Young Midoriya lingering at his door, pale and exhausted and looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"Uh… I came here to see how you're doing… I'm gonna leave now."

"Stop right there."

One foot already out the door, Midoriya froze.

"If you hadn't acted when you did, I would've been in quite a pinch earlier, young Midoriya," All Might found himself saying. It seemed to startle his student more than it startled him, however, because the boy winced. Words were nothing but sincere, but they seemed to hurt young Midoriya more than anything else. His shoulders slumped and he looked at Toshinori like he was struggling hard trying to decide what to do.

"I… um…"

"Relax, and take a seat," All Might said. "What brings you here so late?"

Again, Midoriya hesitated, not moving a step away from the doo while he looked anywhere but at All Might. "Uh, it's just… you told me your secret. I don't really know why you did, and like I promised I never told anyone, I didn't want anyone to know if you didn't, and I know I'm rambling now and that this doesn't make much sense. I don't know if this makes me right or wrong, or just selfish… but... _But_."

Fists clenched thightly, it took a moment for Toshinori to realize Midoriya was shaking. His eyes wouldn't pry away from his hands.

Gloved hands. Ever since the boy had started school, All Might had never seen him without those. Metal worn out and used beyond its signed purpose, only barely holding together. Two bright x's gleaming in orange light. The only thing that changed about them was the ring that seemed to perfectly fit with the design.

The boy watched them with a mix of pride and contempt. And fear. So much of it.

"Sit down first," All Might said, gesturing to the chair close to him. "You can talk at your pace." Although All Might could only imagine how much it would pain him to do so, if his face was any indication.

Midoriya sat down, and once he did, all the doubt seemed to clear from his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I know this is very selfish of me, All Might. But I feel like you might be the only person I can share this with. Is it okay, if I tell you a secret too?"

"What is this ominous feeling in the air? You're scaring me, young Midoriya. It can't possibly be that bad?"

Midoriya Izuku's smile was the strangest thing Yagi Toshinori had ever seen. It was a mix of youthful exuberance, pride and uncertainty. Perhaps the closest analogy was that of a child caught doing what it shouldn't, knowing he should feel guilty but didn't.

"It all started with the Sludge incident," Midoriya started, with something of a sheepish and awkward grin on his face. Then he retraced his way back to the day they met roughly a year ago, and the faithful discovery of his Quirk. Which turned out not be a Quirk at all, which was worth a minute's stare all on its own.

Then he spoke of the ring in his possession, the training and preparation he'd gone through just so he could compete with rest of the students, and how he felt like he ought to feel more remorse for lying to get as far as he did. The kicker came with his family history, something All Might couldn't have seen by a long shot.

At the end of it, possibly the most normal thing was that Midoriya seemed to think the world was coming to an end. More so when he realized he'd left the world's greatest hero speechless.

"I think it's good you came to me with this, young Midoriya," Toshinori said, before the boy could freak out and run away. It was a bluff, an old man's piss poor attempt at buying time to gets his thoughts in order, but it seemed to calm the boy nonetheless.

Maybe the story wasn't the scary part, Toshinori belatedly realized. Maybe Midoriya's role in USJ incident and consequential guilt weren't what he should be worried about. The boy seemed less bothered by the fact somebody was trying to kill him for the sake of power than the fact others had gotten dragged into it alongside him. Use of foreign power he didn't understand bothered him less than the fact he'd lied about its origin. Yet in the end, he was most worried of all that all of those things combined had him feeling unworthy of being a hero.

Toshinori felt the boy's story hit him on an all too personal level.

"You said your tutor knows all this?" All Might said, another piss poor attempt at buying time. "It sounds to me he encouraged you to keep this to yourself. Do you think he might be bothered you did the opposite?"

Yes, perhaps it wasn't just buying time. Midoriya's tutor seemed somewhat sketchy from the beginning, Toshinori couldn't put his finger on it. Was it the Spartan training with young Bakugou, evasion of strict Quirk Regulation laws, or his own participation in USJ with none the wiser? Or perhaps all of the above? It would be good to know of Midoriya's perception of his tutor's opinion. But if he'd been expecting fear of retribution or apprehension that would've had Midoriya second-guessing of his own decision to speak out, he got neither.

"He knows, I think," the boy said with a casual shrug. At Toshinori's look, he recoiled. "I mean, I didn't really ask for permission and all, but he's generally more the type to do something first, deal with consequences later and ummm maybe it's just a bad habit but I've never really asked permission for anything so I don't really know if he'd agree with me talking about this and I didn't feel like testing it and..."

"Stop the nonsense," Toshinori said. Midoriya clamped his mouth shut and All Might rolled his eyes. Fan, through and through. "Still, it seems odd, given how much trouble he's gone through to hide your abilities under the name of a Quirk," he couldn't help but notice.

Izuku twirled his fingers awkwardly. "That's partly my fault too. I can't be a hero without a Quirk. But with the flames…" he shook his head, cutting himself off, but Toshinori understood all too well. What he didn't understand was why Midoriya was so intent on blaming himself.

"Well, fact is that keeping the details of your power to yourself was the wiser choice," All Might allowed. Heavens knew he had no right to say anything to the contrary. It still felt like a stab in the gut to see the boy's eyes grow so wide. "However, criminal organization looking to retrieve that power is a real danger we cannot ignore. You haven't thought of going to the police about that attack on your home, have you?"

And the boy tensed up again. But he gritted his teeth and stared down at his clenched fists intently. "I thought about it. But if I do that, they'd inevitably find out about why it happened."

Which would, of course, appear like a bigger problem than apprehending the hitman. All Might couldn't even disagree, considering a teenager and his baby-form tutor had handled the situation without alerting any hero agency in vicinity. He could only wonder how, and hope he never found out.

"In the end, it all goes back to this," Izuku murmured, playing with the metal, name _Vongola_ reflected in the ring. "It chose me, so even if I tried to give it to the mafia, not only would they not be able to use it, that likely wouldn't dissuade them from trying to kill me anyway."

Ah yes, the pesky issue of blood inheritance. All Might almost forgot about that. In light of all the other issues, it had looked like a trivial detail. Apparently not.

"That's a problem indeed," he agreed. "But a solvable one. USJ was an exception, but I do believe there is very little the mafia can do to touch you inside the school. Especially since my severely lacking knowledge on the Vongola tells me they're based abroad."

Izuku nodded absentmindedly. "Italy, yeah. From what I found, they withdrew from Japan completely around the time Quirk Revolution started."

All Might considered that, too. Not only was Midoriya fully aware of the threat he may be up against, he'd gone out of his way to learn more about it. _Incredible potential indeed_. He was regretting more and more not offering the boy One For All before things had ended up this complex. Under current circumstances, that option required much more careful consideration.

"Well, for the time being, there is little we're able to do," All Might said. "Those guilty of USJ incident are imprisoned, if any of them have any useful information to provide, we will know it. My close friend on the force is looking into it, so even if somebody out there names you directly, there should still be things we can do about it."

"Friend?" Midoriya asked, eyes lighting up at the possibility of juicy All Might background information. Then the part that was implied, but not precisely stated, punched him in the face. "You mean... you approve of this? You're... not going..." Oh boy, it looked like the waterworks were about to start - "THANK YOU, ALL MIGHT!"

"Oh calm down, for goodness' sake!"

Midoriya stopped sniffling, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye.

 _I'm encouraging a hero course student to break Quirk Regulation laws_ , All Might realized with a start. Maybe the beating he'd received had indeed been worse than he'd thought. He thought long and hard about how he should proceed, lest he somehow make thing situation worse.

"Listen to me carefully, young Midoriya," he began. "As things stand, I cannot in right mind say I approve of what you're attempting to do. However, I understand the complexity of the situation, and therefore I will impose this upon you. If at any moment, something happens that may put you, or anyone else at risk, even tangentially connected to your family situation, you must notify me immediately. Is that clear?"

Suppressing what was clearly a sob, Midoriya nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Then, young Midoriya, you might want to be on your way home. It's getting quite late. I know you have a day off tomorrow, but you might need it to catch up on all your hero informatics homework."

"Yes, sensei! Thank you, All Might-sensei! I'm so sorry for causing so much trouble, All Might-sensei!"

"Oh, enough with the nonsense! Go, before Recovery Girl kicks you out for being here after hours."

Nodding, the boy bowed on his way out, quickly wishing All Might fast recovery. After the door slammed shut, Toshinori wondered if it was maybe the time to open that bottle of sake Midnight had given him during his 'Congrats on becoming a teacher' party.


	8. Measure of Segregation

A/N: A dream is a puzzle, and a puzzle is a weapon. Even if it may not look that way.

* * *

Izuku woke up to a world of darkness.

 _Huh? What is this? I was sure I was dreaming until a second ago…_

Funny that he couldn't remember the dream now. It had been kind of like a movie, but now it was no more than a fading memory, replaced by darkness and a level of exhaustion he shouldn't really be experiencing given he was supposed to be sleeping.

Strangest part had to be that he didn't feel like he was sleeping at all.

 _Lucid dreaming, maybe?_ Possible, considering he couldn't move a muscle, yet all of it felt like he was fully awake. Even the harsh breathing, as much as it felt like his own, was something he couldn't control no matter how hard he tried, while kneeling on the ground he couldn't see and feeling an urgency he didn't understand. Only light in the darkness were the fading flame of the gloves on his hand.

 _No, I'm sure I took them off before I went to sleep. Definitely a dream._

But when his body gave out on him, it didn't feel that way. For a moment, everything was so dark he wasn't sure his eyes were open. Then light broke through, and small amount of hopeful energy helped him focus.

A man appeared in the distance, fast approaching. It was odd, like Izuku was looking at him through some sort of mist, yet undeniably was he there.

He was screaming, in a language Izuku couldn't understand, but by body language alone could make several horrifying guesses as to why. Then a gunshot, out of nowhere. Blood spilled everywhere.

Izuku held a breath that wasn't his, quickening heartbeat ringing in his ears.

The man was replaced by a woman, defiant, screaming bloody murder at the shadow pointing the shotgun her way, only to be on the receiving end of a quick and gruesome herself. Another man took her place, another victim. Izuku tried to move, but couldn't. Tried to scream but couldn't. Until something tore from his throat, weak and trembling and terrified, and _definitely not his voice_.

"What is this?"

Even as the bloodbath continued, victims changed from individuals to groups, screaming turned louder and scenes got gorier, Izuku couldn't cry. His cheeks were burning with tears, yet they weren't, while he begged them to stop, but at the same time did nothing but watched. Because his body refused to listen. _Because it wasn't his body at all_.

An elderly man, laughing before he slit his own throat.

Another one as he hovered over and tried to protect a child while dozens emptied their revolvers into his back.

And a voice, somewhere inside Izuku's head, perhaps the most terrifying of all, growing more concrete, more real with every word.

"Murder... Revenge... Betrayal... An insatiable thirst for power. _This_ is the bloodstained history of the Vongola Family. You, holder of the Sky ring, do you truly have the resolution to inherit these past sins?"

What? Izuku didn't understand. Images of blood and death and suffering continued and he cradled his head, shivers down his spine all too real yet not real at all. _I don't want to inherit anything!_ What was going on? Why was he here? Why was _this_ happening?

He wanted to scream, demand answers to at least a dozen questions, wanted to close his eyes and _tried_ , but it was like he was stuck inside somebody else. Watching this through somebody else. And yet this person couldn't turn his eyes away.

"Stop it," the whimpering voice that wasn't Izuku's said, " _STOP IT!_ "

"Do not turn your eyes away, successor of the Vongola."

Two girls screamed, they couldn't have been older than fifteen.

 _Vongola_ , Izuku realized, and it all started making a twisted kind of sense.

"This is the purpose of the life that you were given. This is the price we must pay for the power we wish for. If it's great power you want, you must also have the resolution to inherit our great history."

 _No. There is nothing great about this!_ Not the power, not the memory, none of it. The tightening in his neck, the pain in his chest were both his and yet weren't, both there but not. He didn't know where it all started and ended, couldn't understand the bubbling terror and _anger_ when the only thing he was truly feeling was fear and confusion.

Yet he talked all the same. Almost as desperately as he felt.

"I _refuse_... I thought I could do anything, if it meant I could protect everyone... but, this... I don't need this kind of power!"

Stronger, perhaps stronger than Izuku could've believed, the owner of the memory lifted himself with waning strength and trembling body, staring down the misty forms in the distance as if they were nothing more than ants.

"If you want me to inherit such mistakes, then... I will..." Tear burned Izuku's cheek. "I will _WIPE OUT THE VONGOLA_!"

The words weren't his, and yet they were. The fear wasn't his, yet it was. The resolution, the promise of complete and utter destruction that hadn't even had a chance to cross his mind, somehow, Izuku fully believed in it anyway.

And then the bodies, the screams and even the pain in Izuku's lungs stopped all the same, replaced by fire.

And… people.

Close to a dozen of them, each standing in their own designated place while a coat of arms Izuku recognzied as Vongola's symbol burned bright under their feat. Furthest away from them was a man, familiar but not, rising from his throne. Fire burned on his fists. Like on Izuku's. Like on the owner of the original memory.

"Your resolution has been unequivocally accepted." The distant figure's voice blended with the background, slowly getting lost in Izuku's quickening heartbeat. So forceful, that the rest of it was quieter than even a whisper.

"To flourish or to perish, it is up to you now, _Decimo_..."

Something closed around Izuku, around his hands and neck and chest, tearing the memory to shreds, stealing whatever semblance of energy he'd regained, and burning into his skin until nothing remained.

The pain only came a few seconds later. And then he was screaming.

* * *

"Izuku?" Reborn asked, only slightly nudged from his sleep. From the corner of his eye, he noted the watch saying it was barely past four in the morning. Kid was having a dream, maybe a nightmare, given how much he was trashing around that bed.

Reborn didn't know whether that was a custom, or something he should've been prepared for in the light of recent events. Normally he'd slept in his own permanently rented apartment, so he could've easily missed it, the boy's state of disarray. As it was, perhaps neglecting it hadn't been the wisest of choices.

Not that it was an acceptable reason for cutting Reborn's sleep shot.

Pulling off his sleeping cap, he crossed the distance to the bed in a single leap. Initially he'd just been planning to kick the kid in the stomach, wake him up and continue the nap. But in the darkness of his room, Izuku was clutching onto his blanket with enough strength to tear it. Face covered in a mix of tears and sweat, a half-scream tore from his lips.

"Hey, Izuku!" Reborn grabbed his collar, but it did nothing. No amount of shaking helped. _Something is wrong_. As if it hadn't been obvious already. _Fine, if I have to go to the extreme for this one, then so be it-_

Reborn rolled up his sleeve, eyes closing so he could focus-

Then two things happened at once.

Vongola Sky ring blazed to life.

And a set of Dying Will chains locked around Izuku's neck, arms and chest, locking him in place.

 _What the-?_ Focus dissipating, Reborn reached for them without thinking. His hand passed through the metal like it wasn't there, landing on Izuku's burning chest. Second attempt did nothing, and Reborn didn't waste time trying the third time. His pacifier lit up the room. "Release!"

Bones cracked when Reborn's body began to twist and change, growing in length. Assuming the form he hadn't taken for so long had to be one of his less pleasant experiences in the past decade, but Reborn refused to let that deter him. One knee on the corner of the bed, he watched in horror as even his adult form's hand failed to grab the chains.

Then Izuku's eyes flew open, wide and terrified, half-scream already past his lips.

It was only once he saw the boy's eyes grow comically wide that Reborn realized they weren't alone. Gun already out, he turned. Then his eyes narrowed a fraction, realizing both his gun and most of his arm were lost in Vindice's body like he was one of Chrome's illusions.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Reborn snapped. Izuku was still wrapped in chains, but incorporeal as they were, they didn't prevent him from moving physically, not when he'd managed to crawl back until he'd hit the wall. Which begged the question of what they were trapping instead, when it seemed to be hurting him so bad.

The old guardian of the mafia law grinned down at them like a Cheshire. "This does not concern you, Arcobaleno." His bandages hovered in the air, as if carried by a wind as he bent over the kid, chains extending from Izuku to the Vindice's body. And right _through_ Reborn.

"Midoriya Izuku," the damn mummy spoke, drawing the boy's full attention, and disregarding Reborn as if he wasn't there. "This is the first and the final warning you shall receive. Look further, and you shall meet the punishment of the worst order. Realm you've stepped into has its sacred laws. Break them, and you will only ever wish you could die."

Low screech drew everyone's attention, as Leon climbed onto Izuku's chest protectively. Every time he touched the chains, they seemed to crumble away, piece by tiny piece. Vindice pulled the chains away before they could disappear completely, leaving Izuku to collapse back like a puppet with its strings cut. Their hateful eyes settled on Reborn.

"You have been warned before, Arcobaleno. You are to keep your nose away from our matters, lest you want us to end you as well. There is no one left to protect you anymore."

"I have yet to be in need of protection," Reborn hissed. "Get lost, fiends. Your time ended long ago."

"Quite the contrary," the fading form chuckled, "it has just begun."

Then it disappeared, like he hadn't appeared at all, but leaving destruction invisible to the naked eye in its wake.

"Tch." Allowing Leon to climb on his shoulder while his form diminished, Reborn sucked in a breath. Window was firmly closed, curtains drawn, yet the unnatural chill had yet to disappear. Glancing to where Izuku was still sitting, one hand desperately clutching the ring around his neck, Reborn could only imagine what must've been going through his mind. It took him close to a minute before he could relax his frozen muscles.

"I... I had a dream, Reborn," was the first thing he said.

Reborn almost choked.

"What kind of a dream?"

"Not mine." Izuku shook his head, shoulders shaking. "... not mine."

* * *

Hour or so later found Izuku hunched over the kitchen table, tired but wide awake, absently petting Leon who'd nestled in his lap. Reborn had made tea for them while Izuku talked, trying to find a way to explain what he'd seen prior... prior to what followed after that. First signs of sunlight peaked throughout the window.

Izuku looked away. Sunlight made him think of things he didn't know, things he didn't understand. An ever-changing underground base. First rays of sun after a battle that had cost _too much_. Sasagawa Kyoko's smile.

Sasagawa Kyoko's tears.

Izuku closed his eyes and tried to shoo the images away. Dispersed bits and pieces still remained. Most of those were flashes of a smile. Smile that changed throughout the years, from young and innocent to whimsical and knowing. Maybe because he'd seen her face on a picture before, that made it that much harder to ignore.

"What happened to her?" Izuku found himself asking. Sasagawa had been a notorious philanthropist. One of the sites he'd read cited her as the head of a successful foundation for sick and orphaned children. Same site listed her as deceased at barely twenty-four years of age. She hadn't even graduated university.

"Declaration of war," Reborn said, not looking up from his cup. "Perhaps if she'd survived, things would've gone differently. But don't change the subject, Izuku. You said you went through succession trial?"

Izuku shook his head. "Not me. Sa-" Sawada, he'd wanted to say. But recalling the family tree, there had been several of them. "Decimo," he corrected. "At least, that's how they addressed..." _me_. Except it wasn't him. He was the stranger invading somebody else's mind, not the other way around. "He said he'd destroy the Vongola," Izuku recalled. "But somehow he made the family stronger than ever."

Reborn hummed. "Tsuna only ever did things that could protect those close to him. Vongola was a name they all gathered under, but it was also a tool. If it became a liability, at any point in time, Tsuna was the kind of person who would've abandoned it without hesitation."

"That's probably why it collapsed when he was assassinated," Izuku mused. "I couldn't find many details, but before Sawada and his wife were killed, he'd made a lot of bizarre business decisions everybody was criticizing. That's why most of the dummy companies the family depended on for finances went bankrupt almost immediately. I wonder if maybe it was a premonition of some kind..."

Reborn released a pained sigh. "And that's exactly why I told you to stop digging things on your own. None of that is accurate."

"Eh?" Izuku paled. "But-but, the sites! And financial reports-"

"Well, financial reports have always been heavily edited, but to those at least there is some truth," Reborn sighed. "I doubt Vongola would ever publicly announce how much money they lost with Tsuna gone. Sums you found must've been the amounts they could get away with, putting it on paper."

"B-but... more than eighty percent of total assets...?"

"Fiction," Reborn said. "Just as anything that says Tsuna was assassinated. Bunch of lies thought up by pathetic wimps who couldn't comprehend what they were dealing with. As if Tsuna could ever be assassinated." So much disgust filled that sentence, so much anger at the mere insinuation that his student's death could've been ordered. Izuku wasn't sure he should ask anything more on the matter, but curiosity prevailed.

"Then what happened?" he asked. "If it wasn't assassination that killed Decimo, what was it?"

Just with that one look, Izuku knew he'd asked the wrong question. Reborn didn't look angry, but there was something, a sort of quiet fury bubbling underneath that set Izuku on the edge.

"Well," Reborn said shockingly lightly, "this wasn't a conversation I was planning on having with you anytime soon, but I suppose I can't blame you for wanting to know under the circumstances."

He placed his teacup down, any trace of light cheer gone from his face or posture. "It's true Tsuna's wife was assassinated in line with those reports you found. I also know for a fact he was present at the scene. However, I know for a fact he was alive days afterwards, because he'd tried to contact me in the meantime."

 _Contact? So_ _Reborn was alive two hundred years ago..._ Which was not so surprising, he'd been dropping hints left and right before. _Earlier, when those Vendice showed up, he looked different, too..._ So was it like All Might? Changing shape to preserve energy? Or a Quirk? Would be weird if it was a Quirk, since Reborn was always yelling at him not to think about Quirks only.

"Maybe Tsuna wanted me to know what he was doing," Reborn continued, lost in his own thoughts. "Maybe he just needed advice. Or maybe it was a goodbye. I never got a chance to find out. By the time I returned, nobody could tell me where Tsuna had gone. Half his family believed he'd died with his wife. Rest of them didn't even know that much. I would've thought he'd just reached his breaking point, if not for the fact none of his guardians had returned as well."

"So you don't know what happened?" Izuku mumbled in shock. But… how?

"I was looking," Reborn said, quiet and pained, more like an explanation to himself than to Izuku. "I spent close to a century jumping on anything I could find. Going out of my way to connect pieces of a puzzle I couldn't understand. There was nothing. The only clue I had was a promise from Ryohei to Hana. They were planning on coming back. Something stopped them, but I could never find out what. I swore I would do whatever it took to find out the truth. But two centuries later and I made no progress whatsoever. Until I met you."

Izuku froze, startled. He didn't know who Ryohei and Hana were. How they could be a clue. How Izuku himself could possibly be a clue. He didn't even know anything about the Vongola until Reborn had flipped his life upside down. But then again, Reborn wasn't really looking at him.

Old gloves. Old ring. That air around him like he was permanently stuck in a cage of his own making, a set of complicated, borderline illegal decisions he'd roped Izuku into making. The more he thought about it, the older Reborn appeared. The more he looked like he couldn't let go of his past, couldn't let go of his student, nor accept that something essential to him had come to an end without him being able to do anything. The world had moved on without him, yet Reborn still clung to the only ties to past he had left, looking for answers to questions that were long forgotten.

Izuku found it all incredibly sad.

"But, Reborn… all of this..." He shook his head, stopping that train of thought. "Even if you are right and something went wrong, how can I be a clue to anything?" Which was a ridiculous question, Izuku knew. A connection of some sort had to exit, otherwise, why would Izuku be living through Decimo's memories? But it was the only save he could think of. Reborn couldn't have known that Izuku would see those memories. No one could've.

 _Yet these things guarding mafia laws showed up_ … Maybe Izuku needed to reconsider this after all.

Case in point, Reborn shrugged. "You saw Tsuna's memories. That tells me, whatever happened to pit Tsuna against Vindice, time wasn't the factor."

"… wait, what?"

"Well, think about it," Reborn said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Checkerface gave you the Vongola Sky ring—"

"Who is Checkerface?"

"Don't interrupt me. Some years later, you use it by accident. And a year after that, those damn mummies show up the moment you see a memory that isn't yours. I'll bet you my kidney that, once things get down to it, Tsuna fought them and died for one of two reasons. Either the Vindice were trying to upset the Trinisette policy—"

"The _what?_ "

"Or they were enabling somebody else to do it instead."

Naturally it was like Reborn to completely ignore him. Izuku sighed. "Wait, Reborn, wait a second. Just, explain, please. What kind of policy are you talking about?"

Reborn looked at him like he was stupid. Oh come on, he was definitely doing this on purpose now. "The Trinisette policy. The forces that can destroy the universe, of course," he said.

For a moment, Izuku just stared. Then he sighed again. "Heh… that's a funny joke. Destroying the universe, hehe… but seriously now-"

"I am serious," Reborn cut him off. "Well, it doesn't really matter whether you believe it or not. We have something more important to talk about, before your mom wakes up. I told you yesterday, didn't I?"

Izuku paled. _I completely forgot. But to think there's something more important than this?_ It was going to be scary. Scary, bizarre and possibly causing bodily harm, if the look on Reborn's face was anything to go by.

"We need to change your training routine," he said.

Izuku's jaw unhinged. " _What?_ "

"Yes," Reborn continued, as if it was only natural. "I already thought it might happen, but first edition of Zero Point Breakthrough is an exhausting technique, especially for you. Use it once and you're barely standing afterwards. Revised version would normally help you get around that little glitch, but Revised relies on there being other sources of Dying Will flames you can convert into your own. Not very useful when you're fighting Quirks. That means we need to work on something that would suit your needs more."

"Wait, Reborn, we can't just move from talking about the _fate of the universe_ to _training_ in one sentence!"

"I just did. Today is your day off from school so I was thinking we could use it to get started on something completely new."

"I was attacked by villains yesterday! Ghost mummies not two hours ago! It's _five in the morning!_ "

"Exactly. You have plenty of time to make breakfast before we start."

"Damn it, Reborn!"

* * *

It was middle of the night once Yuni slipped into a silent apartment building. An elderly lady gave her a quick greeting which she returned, before trying to find her place around the massive structure. Reborn's instructions haven't been the easiest to follow, something he'd doubtlessly done on purpose.

Still, she'd figured it out in the end. It involved a little improvisation and scaring a poor cat to death, but in the end she was standing in front of the correct door.

After two soft knocks, she wasn't surprised to find the door opening themselves. She closed them quickly. Reborn showed up a moment later, gave her one look, and froze.

"What happened?"

"Ah, um… I'm sorry, uncle Reborn," Yuni said sheepishly. She must've still had some soot and dirt on her. Maybe blood too. Well, no matter now. "I'm truly sorry. I couldn't get the drawers. I tried my best and I thought I had them… but Tsuna-san did a really good job, not even I could open them, and heroes showed up before I could carry them out…"

"You tried to _carry_ them?"

"Yes, there was this really big window in the office so I thought I could do it… I was so close."

"Yuni, do you have any idea how heavy those drawers are?" Reborn asked. "Why would you even do that? I told you I don't need them—"

"I saw you need them," the girl said sheepishly, cheeks bright with embarrassment. "I almost had the lock open too and if I just had a little more time…"

There was a sound of slap as Reborn's hand met his cheek, mainly cause he couldn't reach his forehead.

"Yuni, Tsuna used his ring to lock those. There was no way anyone could… wait, don't tell me. You tried to use the Mare ring to open them."

Yuni was decidedly looking anywhere but at Reborn.

"Yuni you can't just go stealing Mare rings whenever you like it!"

"Well, technically, they're still mine, so…"

Uncle Reborn looked like he was fighting a particularly nasty headache. "At least tell me nobody saw you."

"Um, you mean when I took the ring? Of course not."

"So somebody did see you trying to steal a set of archaic and ancient drawers that would probably be worth more than this entire apartment complex if anyone had any idea what was inside? Not that they're not worth a fortune anyway."

At this point, Yuni just wanted to dunk her face in a tub filled with chunks of ice. "Maybe?"

Reborn sighed. "That's it. I'm locking you in this apartment, you're banned from going anywhere for the next year."

"But—"

"No buts, you must've seen this coming. As if dealing with Izuku and the goddamn Vindice wasn't enough." Shaking his head, he trotted back to his living room, leaving Yuni to idly wonder if she needed to take her shoes off, or if she could just do what Reborn did and keep them on. She decided on the latter, just when uncle's voice reached her.

"Nuh-huh, stop right there. Shoes off. I'm only borrowing this place."

 _Not renting?_ Well, Yuni followed the order. Before long she found herself looking around the place and idly wondering how uncle Reborn was planning to keep her there when there were so many huge windows she could use to escape.

"Don't even think about it," Reborn said, and Yuni flinched. Finally, Reborn settled back on the table, dozens of pages of notebooks and reports spread all around. One of them had a printed photo of a hero Yuni recognized, All Might himself. He picked up a few of the papers and started scratching something out. "Great, now that you did something unnecessary, it's a guarantee they're going to move the drawers somewhere else. I'm gonna have to look into that all over again."

"Will you, though? I'm pretty sure I know where they're relocating them."

At that, Reborn pinned her with a look that said, with a lot more expletives, _talk_. He wasn't going to forgive this anytime soon, was he?

"Well since police custody is out of question, they were having this really long and boring discussion and I didn't really understand it… why do they need so many regulations in place over antique furniture, anyway? Uh… sorry. They said it will go to a hero's office."

"Oh?"

Yuni winced. "They put some person in charge of it, somebody named Todoroki Enji?"

Reborn idly wrote it down. It was only after that he realized what he'd written, and he froze. His pencil snapped. " _Fuck_."

Oh he was definitely not going to forgive this for a long, long time.


	9. Prelude to Mayhem

A/N: Everyone prepares for the sports festival. _Everyone_.

* * *

 _I wonder if this is the right place..._

Toshinori went over the quick instructions Midoriya's mom had given him, after he'd very embarrassingly ran into the woman before he was able to find his student. It had been so _awkward_. He'd barely managed to save himself with an excuse over coursework and UA sports festival... which had sort of exploded in his face, because Midoriya Inko had known more about sports festival organization than any housewife had any right to. She was even familiar with some details All Might hadn't heard before and whether that was a serious blow to his pride or proof that Midoriya Inko was _that_ good, Toshinori hadn't decided yet.

In the end, she'd saved him another embarrassing stumble and directed him to the park where her son usually trained with young Bakugou.

And boy, had that been a surprise.

Young Midoriya trained with young Bakugou. In hindsight, it explained why their way of moving looked similar sometimes. But anybody who had ever seen young Bakugou talk to Midoriya would never think they'd trained for UA entrance exams together.

 _Young Midoriya mentioned it before too, but I didn't take him seriously..._ Well. That was his mistake. Then again, between baby hitman slash tutor, mafia connection and a superpower in the form of Dying Will flames, it had slipped off Toshinori's mind. He was kind of curious whether or not he'd be able to see some of that training. Maybe give a few pointers, even if that wasn't the reason why he'd come looking for Midoriya on a weekend. As long as young Bakugou didn't recognize his skeleton form, it should be fine, no?

In the end, finding young Midoriya hadn't been hard at all. He just had to follow the sounds of trashing, banging and painful groaning.

First thing he saw was a pair of teens, similar shade of green hair, similar training clothes, performing a gymnastics bridge. And no young Bakugou in sight.

"No, Izuku. You gotta put more _oomph_ in it. More _oomph!_ " the girl was shouting. Given her form, she could've easily passed for a professional gymnast.

Next to her, Midoriya looked like he was a hair's breadth away from breaking his back. "Y-yessir!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the girl corrected.

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

"Great! See? You're getting really good at this. Alright now, down, and let's do over."

Toshinori blinked as the two relaxed, laid down on the grass, then got up in one synced, fluid motion. "All right, three, two, one...!" Toshinori almost choked as both performed a handstand, then slowly began to move into a back bridge – and then Midoriya missed his step and fell in a heap. "Oof!"

" _Izuku!_ " The girl finished her move graciously, getting up faster than Midoriya could, helping him up as well. Now that Toshinori looked at her, she appeared younger than Midoriya, perhaps by a year or two. A sibling, maybe? Although other than hair, they seemed to have nothing else in common. Tiny little star shone under her left eye. She noticed Toshinori, judging by her sunny smile before she turned back to scold still groaning Izuku. "You can't rush this, you know? Or do you want to pull a muscle?"

"I know, I know... sorry, I just thought I had it this time. One more time?"

"How about a short break instead?"

Toshinori almost jumped out of his skin. _That came from behind me, didn't it?_ Slowly, he turned. And like he'd expected, there was somebody there. That Somebody fit Midoriya's description of his tutor down to a T. _Crap_. He was caught, and he hadn't even done anything yet. Even worse, Midoriya noticed him now, jaw hanging. "All Mi-" he cut himself off, both hands covering mouth. "Sensei. What are you doing here?"

 _Sports festival isn't going to fly as an excuse, is it?_ "Ah, um..."

"He came here to check on you, of course," the tutor said, matter-of-factly, as he jumped on top of a bench not too far, and Toshinori wanted to jump out of his skin again. Midoriya was right, his tutor was a mind reader. "Do you see now, how terrible of a job you've been doing, when your teacher is worried about your wellbeing just few weeks into the school year?"

Midoriya looked like he wanted to say something in return, but he didn't get a chance. "Here." The baby tutor tossed him a water bottle, before turning to the girl and doing the same. "Yuni, I thought we agreed that you're on house arrest. Breaking Izuku's back isn't going to get you out of it faster."

The girl's shoulders slumped. "Yes, uncle."

Next to her, Midoriya looked a whole lot more uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Well, for all it's worth, at least you're making progress. I'll leave you to it." Then the beady pair of eyes was on him, and Toshinori suddenly felt very unnerved. "Do you want to sit and watch?"

"Ah, well... if you'll have me, I suppose?"

Reborn pointed him to a nearby picnic table, while young Midoriya and tutor's little niece continued their exercises. Every now and then, though, young Midoriya would glance their way. It was all very transparent.

"Oh, his gloves are gone," Toshinori noticed.

"We're experimenting," Reborn informed him. "Well, they were just a placeholder anyway. A borrowed trick, so to speak."

"I see." Toshinori wondered if he should offer some advice. He didn't really know where to start, though, not without being familiar with the full scope of young Midoriya's abilities.

"Well, what are you here for, _Sensei?_ " The baby tutor asked. "Surely not Izuku only, if you decided to come now of all times."

All Might coughed blood. "You seem to know a lot, huh."

"Not much more than your name, honestly." Reborn tilted his fedora Toshinori's way. "You career is impressive, but not of much interest to me. If anything, it's your life philosophy that's affecting Izuku the most, so that's where my interest goes. You've set a high bar, for better or worse."

Toshinori wondered whether he should take that as a compliment or insult. And young Midoriya had to deal with this on a daily basis? No wonder not even Aizawa fazed him.

"I suppose young Midoriya mentioned that he spoke to me...?"

"Lots of things happened, so it never came up." Damn, that baby was as blunt as they came. And much to Toshinori's surprise, he didn't look bothered by the fact. "He's probably freaking out about that now. Well, I don't really care. Heroes today are in a unique position. You're neither police nor the government, but odds are you will be the first at the scene in case of any trouble. Izuku needs someone who he can trust in that position."

 _So basically like an informant_ , Toshinori thought grimly. _Or a bodyguard_. He wasn't sure which of the options was more ridiculous. "There's very little I can do with the amount of information I have at the moment."

"Then I guess you'll have to make do?"

 _Blunt to the core!_

The tiny tutor shrugged. "Well, again, I don't really care. But if Izuku goes to you, you better do your job. No matter how impossible his explanations sound."

All Might bristled at the insinuation he _wouldn't_. But given what he had heard of young Midoriya's story, he couldn't fault the little tutor for the warning. "You are quite direct for somebody so small."

Half-smile spread on the tutor's face. "Oh, you have no idea."

* * *

Katsuki wanted to break something.

Well, Katsuki wanted to break things in general, now he just wanted to do it more. What the hell was that little shit Deku _thinking?_ Bakugou wanted to turn around and blast the idiot's desk to pieces, but that would be fucking pointless, because the ugly piece of shit wasn't even there to see it.

Text message on his phone said, _Hey, Kacchan! Uraraka-san, Iida-san and I are going to see with Aizawa-sensei if we can use the gym after hours to get ready for Sports Festival. You wanna come?_

Of course he fucking DID. NOT. Bakugou almost threw his phone into a wall. He refrained at the last moment because he'd get in yet another shouting match at home for breaking _yet another_ phone since the school year started. Like it was his fault some dumb fuck decided to drop an entire building on him during USJ. Bakugou made sure the bastard regretted it.

Ultimately, he'd ended up doing boring shit like browsing the news. He'd been hoping for some good hero villain action, but what he'd ended up with instead was some sort of documentary-style crap about a glacier near Sendai. The kind of shit his mom would like. This time, he really wanted to throw his phone into a wall.

"Hey, Bakugou! How about a sparring match after class? Sports festival warm-up for next week?" Spiky Hair yelled.

"I'll kill you," Katsuki informed him.

"Great! Later then!"

Ah well, it all worked out in the end. At least somebody was volunteering to get the shit beat out of them, Bakugou didn't need to go looking. Even if that somebody survived getting a building dropped on him better than even Katsuki had.

* * *

Momo wondered if she was being paranoid.

 _I saw it during USJ, I definitely saw it._ Well, she hadn't actually _seen_ anything. She had just witnessed multiple attempted assaults on Midoriya Izuku, even if there were other viable, likely easier targets in vicinity. They'd wanted to take something from him. But to this point in time, Momo was no closer to figuring out what.

Midoriya was... a strange person. Somebody who was all too excited when he got to see other people's Quirks in action. Shy. Somebody who paid attention in class to the border of obsession. And yet somebody who couldn't string a sentence together in front of a girl without stuttering. Smart and athletic, but not too much. He couldn't hold a candle to the heavy hitters in the class, such as Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida and Ojiro. Yet the way he used his Quirk somehow made up for all of that.

Funny, when Bakugou let it slip that Midoriya had been Quirkless until a year ago.

It had taken careful choice of words and conversation topic manipulation, but she'd managed to covertly piss off Bakugou enough for him to point her to a video.

Momo didn't know what she was doing, actually watching that video, however. Alone, in the comfort of her room, using private tabs so nobody could trace it in her browser history... she was acting like a _stalker!_ Scandalized, she almost shut her laptop right there and ended the entire farce. She didn't know what stopped her, but something had. Something that she couldn't explain just by paranoia. She played the video until the end... and then she'd played it at least five more times, for it to really sink in.

Frankly, video itself wasn't much. It was roughly a minute or so long, starting with the villain already torturing Bakugou – that had been horrifying to watch. Then Midoriya was there, with that habitual orange flame on the top of his head, flinging his backpack at the villain. Impressive, but not what Momo had been expecting – not until she noticed Midoriya's hands weren't on fire. But something on his chest was. Odd. Wasn't it usually the other way around?

Then Midoriya blew her expectations out the window and _headbutted_ the villain. As if it wasn't crazy enough, it actually worked. At least some of that ugly slime was on fire. Midoriya was breathing, and Momo finally managed to get a clear look at what that thing burning on his chest was.

 _A ring?_

Then All Might punched the villain out of the video frame and the camera tried to follow it without much success. And Momo slumped, because this was not what she'd been hoping for at all.

 _Well this at least explains why he wasn't afraid of any USJ villains... I guess, if I want to know, I'll just have to ask._

But... that proved to be harder than intended. During school, it would both be awkward, because she was closer with Jiro and Kaminari than she was with Midoriya, and just walking there to talk to him would be out of character. Worse, others would notice, possibly get the wrong idea and... Momo slumped in her seat. Why was this so difficult? It was just one question! _What do you know about USJ that you're not saying, Midoriya-san?_

Eventually, Momo gathered her courage.

It just happened to be at the same time Bakugou publicly announced his sports festival challenge to the rest of the school, Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka had started talking about their motivations for becoming a hero and suddenly Momo felt her presence to be entirely unnecessary. Instead, she'd joined Todoroki for lunch. She wasn't as close with him as with Jiro and Kaminari, but at least there she didn't need to deal with any expectations other than her own.

* * *

 _Again?_

Izuku tried to look around him, but his eyes remained fixated on one point. Safe sign he was once again an observer in somebody else's head. Sawada Tsunayoshi's. Did it have to be night of the sports festival though? Last time he'd barely been capable of cognitive functions in the morning. He wanted to be at his best during the festival, why did it have to be now?

People were everywhere around him, and Izuku seemed to be aware of them all. Suits, luxuries, old fashioned designs and people of multiple nationalities. He wasn't looking at any of them specifically, but he was still searching for something, waiting for something. Tension. Anticipation. Guilt. Fear. All of those feelings were Izuku's, but at the same time they weren't.

Something drew his attention, then, and he focused. At least to remember most of what he saw, in hopes Reborn could help him make sense of it later. Given he was present, not too from Izuku – no, _Sawada_ \- he ought to be able to help.

A man walked down the long red carpet, towards Sawada. Came to stand between him and an elderly man facing Izuku. It was now that they both started scanning the crowd in depth, looking for something, _someone_ , but Izuku had no idea whom. All he knew were the things he could see, and the alien feeling of sadness and tension as a body that wasn't his prepared for a fight.

"Now, the inheritance ceremony may begin."

 _A what?_ Izuku wondered – but the answer came soon enough. The pillow in front of him from which the elderly man picked up a box – box which he had now opened and displayed its contents for Izuku to see. _A bottle? Is that blood? What the hell?_

Then the sounds began. The noise, the screech, at a frequency that would've had Izuku's ears bleeding at any other time – but not now. Not when none of this was hurting him. Instead, it was hurting Sawada, and Sawada scrunched, trying to drown out most of it with little success, at the same time limiting what Izuku could see. He'd still kept an eye on the bottle, and the sudden flood of relief when several large men formed a protective circle around him was almost disorienting.

Image flickered in and out, like the memory itself clouded, before Izuku realized the scene around him had changed. The room was the same, even if it had suffered a significant amount of damage thanks to explosions. The bottle he'd seen before was broken on the floor.

And a bottle of the same shape was in the hands of a boy standing opposite Izuku, backed by a number of other teens. They'd caused the damage, Izuku realized belatedly, and Sawada and his group clearly seemed to know them. Which explained the utter pain of betrayal that consumed the owner of the memory.

When he spoke, Sawada's voice was shaking. But there was no doubt anymore. No fear. "The ones who attacked Yamamoto..."

"Yes, that would be us."

Izuku realized this had never been about the inheritance after all.

* * *

Image flickered in and out again, as if it had been obscured by smoke. For who knows how long, Izuku saw nothing at all, felt nothing but a pang of confusion. Who were those people? Who was the person they'd hurt? What in the world had he been looking at?

Then images flashed in his mind, of a person, of a smile. It wasn't like the scenes before, clear and concise, sharp like he was standing there himself. Instead it was like flickering of a TV screen on and off, image on it changing every time. A rooftop. _At a school?_ A baseball bat. Replaced by a wooden sword, and then a katana.

A ring.

And blood. So much of it.

Izuku gasped, and suddenly the images stopped, the smoke cleared, and for a moment he thought he was back in his bed. Except he wasn't. He was back in some lavishly decorated hall, but this one looked nothing like the previous. If possible, it looked even more expensive.

Izuku was keenly aware that once again he was not alone, on his right was the boy from before – the one Sawada had accused of hurting his friend. Now he was standing half a step back like a closest ally, and the change was staggering. Tense and fierce, he looked almost protective, as well as quite a few years older. In his early twenties, maybe? On his other side, not too far, was a woman. A wave of complicated feelings washed over Izuku when he saw her. Frustration, worry, insecurity. Guilt, the kind that only ever came if he felt like he owed someone an apology. Perhaps Sawada did, because the girl was holding him at gun point. In spite of the elegant dress, delicate hands and small stature, a fire burned in her eyes, the kind that oddly reminded him of Kacchan.

Behind her, there was a group of equally elegantly dressed men, clapping.

"Well, if that isn't delightful! The look on Decimo's face when one of his own betrays him! Hah, you actually believed she was one of yours. They called you naïve, but I never thought you were _that_ stupid."

 _It's a memory_ , Izuku reminded himself in blind panic. _Just a memory_. Even if that woman pulled the trigger, he would be fine – and after he reminded himself of that several times, he began to notice the details he hadn't before. The woman was looking Sawada directly in the eyes, not aiming. Not that she couldn't have shot him dead anyway at that distance, but she looked like she was trying to say something with the look on her face alone.

"You had it coming," she said, voice quivering slightly as her finger flexed on the trigger. "Of all people, I thought you would do better."

The main of the pack laughed a throaty laughter, fixing his flower-themed tie. "Hahah, see? Even a notorious do-gooder, never-get-involved Sae is thinking that conspiring with the government is over the fucking line, even for you, Sawada. You've been a thorn in our sides for long enough. Kill him."

"Don't do it," Sawada said, a quiet warning. Izuku almost misinterpreted it as a threat. But Sawada wasn't looking at the gun, he was looking at something below. Mostly obscured by the form of the dress itself, if the fear and concern hadn't been so strong, Izuku would've never noticed it. A belly. But then the moment passed and she pulled the trigger.

"SAE!"

Sawada pushed her behind him in one move, just as dozens of men pulled their guns on them and fired, but very little seemed to be able to breach a shield made of fire. Last thing before that shield had formed, Izuku had seen the man who had been gloating moments before, lying on the ground, chest and the flower-print tie drenched in red at two separate places in his chest.

With one arm, Sawada grabbed the girl, who clung to his neck desperately. They were up in the air in seconds, horror dawning on Izuku as he felt something warm and wet soak his shirt. Sawada screamed into his earpiece. "GOKUDERA, NOW!"

And then the entire mansion exploded.

Izuku found himself half jumping out of his bed, drenched in sweat and breathing raggedly. He was back in his room, first signs of sunrise at the bottom of his window. Leon had been sleeping in the corner of his bed, but even the chameleon was awake now. _I don't... I don't get it... Who was hit?_ Was it Sawada? Was it the woman? Was it both? He had a feeling Sawada wouldn't have been nearly as upset if it was either the first or the last option.

His clock said five twenty AM, but there was no way Izuku was going back to sleep.

Picking himself up, he debated on what to do first. Call Reborn, or write the details of the memories down. On one hand, it was too early for his tutor to be awake, but on the other, finer details of the memory were quick to evaporate from Izuku's mind.

 _Not this time,_ he thought. Even if images disappeared, feelings remained. And everything he'd seen had been followed with an amount of guilt that would've drowned any normal person. Izuku found himself writing things down and wiping tears away. They hadn't been his, but that didn't seem to matter either way.

 _They are now_ , a quiet little voice in his head said.

* * *

"I see," Reborn mused as Izuku finished his lengthy explanation. They were on their way to the UA. Sports Festival was about to start, and Reborn had every intention of being in the audience. "Well, I'm familiar with those events you mentioned. Inheritance ceremony was a mess."

"But culprits ended up being friends afterwards?" Izuku demanded. He seemed to have some trouble understanding that Tsuna's way of living didn't usually conform to what most people considered normal.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, they were friends before the ceremony happened."

"That just makes it worse!"

Reborn shrugged. "If Tsuna got upset every time someone tried to kill him, he wouldn't have gotten far in his life."

Izuku looked like he regretted bringing up the topic at all. "Then, the other event?"

"Bartolo Incarceration," Reborn identified. Gokudera's mission names had always been flashy in the worst of ways. "They were some of the lowest scum we've ever had to deal with. Varia was cleaning it up afterwards for _weeks_."

"Varia being the assassination squad," Izuku connected faintly. "I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't think too much about it. Everything ended well. Was there anything else that caught your attention?"

Reborn had been half expecting a no and a shoo off so Izuku could get ready – they were at the entrance and the kid needed to get ready. Physically and mentally, after the morning he'd had. But the boy looked lost in thought for a moment, before he turned to Reborn uncertainly. "Um, you said that I can see these memories because of the ring, right?"

"Most likely," Reborn confirmed.

"But... the order is... strange. At times it seems like I see things that are... _intended_... so to speak, to answer my questions. It just seems odd, I mean."

Well, that was not alarming _at all_. Reborn made a mental note to consult Yuni on this later. Vongola rings had a track record of doing weird things at the most opportune of times. If Izuku was onto something, and the ring indeed was showing things in a way that could answer his questions, then maybe they could finally solve the mystery behind Tsuna and the guardian's untimely end after all. _That said, there isn't any obvious connection between the succession trial, inheritance ceremony and the Bartolo Incarceration. I wonder... well._

"Don't let that distract you now," Reborn decided. "Sports festival is an important moment for your career as a hero, as I'm sure your teachers have mentioned a thousand times already. Focus, and do your best. Everything else we can worry about afterwards."

Izuku nodded, face breaking into a smile for the first time that day. "Right! I'm going, then!"

Reborn took his time to examine the UA grounds then. With the huge amount of people and publicity of the event, the hero and police presence, he doubted even the Vongola would try any ridiculous stunts. Although he had to admit that nearly crashing into Kamui Woods was just a tad annoying.

The fact Reborn had bothered to remember the name in the first place was evidence of how much out of touch he'd become. In his prime, the only ones he'd bother looking into were the targets and potential threats. But going by his old criteria, now everybody was a potential threat. Kid with engines in his legs? Girl with gravity altering powers? Invisible brat? Threats, everywhere. And the teachers, pros and the rest of the lot were, if anything, _worse_.

Although there was plenty of Izuku influence there as well. Kid knew his heroes well.

He'd reached the spectators area just in time for the first event to be announced – obstacle race. He almost laughed. What stopped him was the buzzing of his phone, and he expected it to be Yuni again, complaining that he wouldn't let her come watch.

But the number on it surprised him.

"Yes?"

"I did all I could, Reborn," Thyme's voice came over the speaker, calm and collected tone replaced by rushed and out of breath rasp. "It's out of my hands. They're coming for the ring. They're coming for Midoriya."

Eyes flying everywhere, Reborn tried to single out the targets – but there were either none or too many. "It was never Ria, was it?" he breathed. "Somebody else was pulling the strings from the start! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Vongola business stopped being yours the moment Decimo died! Do you think anyone here would go against that?" Thyme screamed. "You do your job, and let CEDEF protect the boss. She's got nobody else left."

Phone clicked as she dropped the call. Somebody set off the fireworks. Followed by the announcement that froze the blood in Reborn's veins.

"OBSTACLE RACE, START!"


	10. Sports Festival: First Shots Fired

A/N: Sports festival starts. Nobody is quite sure what is going on.

* * *

UA Sports Festival was a huge event. Action every year was spectacular. To make that happen, close to hundred support staff members tried their best so the organization of the event could go smoothly. Roughly the same number of volunteers, typically UA students themselves, but university students and fresh college grads as well, added their youth and energy to the mix in order to become a part of something greater than themselves.

Three days.

Thousands upon thousands of spectators.

Hundreds of participants.

Three winners, one for each year of studies.

UA Sports festival was a spectacle of the highest margin, and people around the world loved it for its exuberance. It was possibly one of the most difficult events in the world to sabotage.

 _Well_ , the Vongola Family thought, _time to_ _see how they hold up against professionals_.

* * *

All classes of the first year had gathered at the middle of the stadium for the opening of the Sports Festival. From hero course students, to general, support and business departments, everyone had gotten their moment to shine, everyone got their brief introduction. Drone cameras were everywhere. Public was ecstatic, applause and cheers drowning out the sound of everything else. 1-A believed this to be their first great step towards their future, first step into the competitive environment of the hero business.

Given the privilege of the opener speech as the best ranked student at the entrance exams, Bakugou had to take that chance and singlehandedly crush it like a house of cards.

"I will be number one."

And suddenly, 1-A's reputation would never be the same again.

Things only went downhill from there.

After Midnight explained the rules, mainly the fact that other than staying on course, there weren't _any_ actual rules, students were directed towards the start gate to wait for the signal. It was a massive, _massive_ double set of gates and an all too small area between them that could barely fit all the racers. Three green lights were on top, and the first one was already lit.

Elbows and knees hitting one person or another, all the students knew it was going to be a bloodbath just to get out of the stadium at all. Smallest of the racers were already in the crowd.

Remaining green lights blazed to life, and the giant gates flung open.

"OBSTACLE RACE, START!"

The battle for freedom began in earnest. Dozens of fireworks exploded from the roof, refreshment areas and beyond, to mark the beginning of a true spectacle.

Fighting Todoroki Shouto's preemptive ice attack, narrow space and each other, students never noticed what should've been obvious.

Namely, the small explosions never stopped.

* * *

Around the time the opening speech began, most visitors have decided to turn their attention to the many large screens surrounding the area. There was little point in sitting in the stadium for some of them – most of the open-air race course was isolated from the non-participants due to the danger of Quirks running rampant – so many of them were still in the outdoor refreshment areas, including some of the pro heroes on duty.

That was why, when the security tent was set on fire, few noticed the commotion. Fireworks were released moments later, with the beginning of the race, drawing attention away from the isolated incident. Heroes were there after all, and they were already solving it, so nobody cared.

Some five seconds after the race started, roughly dozen people everywhere around the festival area waited in silence for the time to come; majority of them were already in position. Finally, the notification arrived.

 _Mission: Revival, PHASE II: start._

Explosions started everywhere at once.

* * *

 _Something is wrong_ , Yaoyorozu Momo realized, seconds into the race.

It wasn't Todoroki attempting to freeze all the competitors in place, she'd seen that coming a mile away. In fact, with the huge advantage his Quirk had under these circumstances, she would've been offended if he hadn't used it.

It wasn't Bakugou and Midoriya using _their_ unfair flight advantage to get ahead, shoulder hitting shoulder as they struggled to keep ahead.

It wasn't even the robots, nearly knocking them both out of the sky because they were so focused on each other.

 _That sounds like... screams?_ Which wasn't a surprise, since Mineta had nearly gotten thrown out of the course after failing to notice a robot and suffering for it, screaming his throat raw like he was on a roller coaster. No, these screams were more distant, more panicked and fearful. And the way Midoriya slowed down, just hanging in the air while Bakugou and Todoroki raced ahead told her everything she needed to know.

 _This is your fault again, isn't it, Midoriya-san?_

Using her athletic abilities had put Momo in the air via pole vaulting to dodge Todoroki's ice. Perhaps she couldn't see what was causing the commotion outside the course, but what she could see was the topmost floors of the UA building in the distance. And something gleaming in the sunlight.

Yaoyorozu didn't think. Hanging limply in the air, Midoriya was a sitting duck. Adding a little extra boost to her pole, Yaoyorozu knew exactly which way she had to go.

"EYES THIS WAY, MIDORIYA!"

He turned, but it was all too slow. Soles of Yaoyorozu's shoes hit his middle, hard. Midoriya blanched. And then they were both tumbling towards the ground at breakneck speeds, sharp pain shooting through Momo's calf.

Half ready for the pain when she hit the ground, Momo was surprised to find herself hanging in mid-air, Midoriya's gloveless-hand catching her right before she could break a bone or two. His free hand, both shoes and head were burning with bring orange flames. Thin sheen of sweat on his brow was the only evidence of pain he'd felt with her kick. Wide green eyes reflected a soft sheen of orange, calm and focused to a degree he had no right being.

"Sorry," Midoriya said, as Momo winced in pain when he gently placed her down. "And thanks. This is the second time you saved my life."

"I really hope there won't be a need for a third," she returned. So she'd guessed right. All the commotion outside had something to do with Midoriya, _again_. A sniper was after him, and he'd somehow managed to graze her calf. That meant flying was out of the equation, and Momo hoped that the thoughtful look on his face meant he was aware of as much himself.

"Is it bad?" he asked, after another one of Momo's attempts to walk produced a pained sigh. Most racers had gone past them by now, some shooting them quizzical looks along the way, but Yaoyorozu was past worrying about appearances.

"I'll survive," she said. "We must contact the teachers. Whatever it is that you weren't saying during USJ, now is the time to report it."

For a moment, Midoriya just stared at her. Whatever he said, Momo had every intention of dragging him in front of Aizawa-sensei if that was what it took. But he never had a chance to answer, because Uraraka joined them seconds later, running the opposite way from everybody else.

"There's trouble outside, right? I saw you stop in the air and I thought it had to be trouble! Is it a villain attack? What's going on?" she asked in one breath. Then she gasped. "Yaomomo! What happened to your leg?"

"Don't worry about it. Let's go back to the stadium, most teachers will be there."

Uncertainly, Uraraka nodded. "Come here, just hold onto me, it'll make it easier to walk."

"Thank you, Uraraka-san."

* * *

Present Mic was still narrating the race when the first signs of trouble showed both on screen and off. On screen, Midoriya's sudden stop in mid-air had drawn some drone attention, as well as Yaoyorozu's subsequent attack. Out of character actions of both meant trouble, but it wasn't immediately obvious what kind. Off screen, multiple pillars of smokes were rising, followed by fireworks that weren't fired in their designated areas. If those weren't hints enough, then the contact from Kamui Woods that followed was hint enough.

"Um, Aizawa, it seems we have some problems by the refreshment stands-" which was then followed by the first major explosion of the day – one that had sent the security tent flying high enough in the air to be clearly seen from the stadium itself, before it went tumbling back down. Aizawa hoped there was nobody under it.

Still on the microphone, Present Mic stumbled. "EH, IS THAT... er, that's a tent. Um, take it easy, ladies and gentlemen, looks like everything is okay-"

Then explosions started within the stadium itself – and Aizawa had no idea what was causing them.

Shutting off his microphone and cursing his still painful side after the USJ incident, Aizawa found himself moving. "I'm going to see what's going..." He tried again, but the door wouldn't budge. The commentator boot was blocked from the outside, and an attempt to kick the door down failed miserably.

"Uh, Eraserhead, I don't think that's a..."

"Shut the robots at the obstacle course down!" Aizawa ordered into the comms. "We have a situation! Get two teams, one to the refreshment area and the other into the stadium. It's possible high explosives are involved!"

"We're _trying_ ," one of the heroes on guard duty screamed into the comm. "The entire stadium is _locked!_ "

Aizawa bit back a curse. After what had happened at USJ, he didn't think anyone would have the audacity to try something like this, but apparently, he'd been wrong. Tightening his restraining bonds to the heavy sound equipment, Aizawa flexed his muscles. "I'm going out," he said. "Teams outside have been alerted. Whoever came up with this irrational plan will be caught in minutes. Meanwhile, Mic, keep the crowd under control before it all devolves into a mess."

"Wait, Eraserhead, don't tell me you're going to-"

Goggles in place and planting his back as far up the opposite wall as he could, Aizawa launched at full speed with his arms and knees protectively in front of him as he crashed right into the glass window.

"AND OUT THE WINDOW HE GOES!" Mic roared. "No need to panic, everyone. ERASERHEAD IS ON THE FIELD! Let's kick some villain ass!"

Aizawa released his bonds and landed roughly at the very last line of the spectators' area. It was a shame he had to leave one of his treasured weapons behind, but crisis called. Then he was rushing downstairs, where Midnight was already putting the most panicked visitors to sleep. "First explosions started close to the changing rooms!" she instructed.

Aizawa nodded. He had work to do.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?!" Mount Lady screamed as she pulled yet another kid out of the way of an explosion. "Where is it coming from? What's causing it? I don't _get it!_ " In sheer frustration, she almost activated her Quirk. Would've, if Kamui Woods hadn't screamed.

" _NO!_ It's landmines! Worst thing you can do now is grow in size!"

"But then what do I _do?!_ " She grabbed another kid before he could fall flat on his face. For god's sake, this wasn't helping anyone. She froze then, eyes wide. "Watch out, Kamui!"

Too late, she realized, as one of the things she recognized as _fireworks_ came slamming into one of his many branches and set them on fire.

A moment of panic overcame them both, then Kamui started swinging his arm around. "What the-? Put it _out!_ "

"With what?!" Glaring at the staggering amount of nothing anywhere near her, Mount Lady wanted to tear her hair out.

"I GOT THIS! MAKE WAY!"

Mount Lady jumped, in the last second, out of the way of a shaved ice trolley cart and Death Arms pushing them at highway speeds. Kamui didn't have the time. The trolley came crashing, cold and sweet refreshments flying everywhere – mostly on top of Kamui himself. On the bright side, that put out the fires on his arm immediately. Less fortunately, it also made him a sticky mess.

"Thanks," said Kamui, though he sounded anything but.

Looking into a messed up situation that was only threatening to become worse, Mount Lady wailed. "What is going _on_?"

* * *

When they reached the gate from where the run had started not minutes ago, last thing Izuku expected was for it to be closed. Pushing at it to the best of his ability, he was just slightly annoyed that it remained firmly locked. For one brief moment he was hopeful he might be able to melt it – his UA gym uniform was already singed in multiple places, he'd melted metal before, so it ought to work on giant gates too? At least in some degree?

Tough luck. UA stadium was top quality. Even his strongest flames didn't leave a mark. "Nope," he said, back leaning against the gate as he fell to the ground. "Not gonna work."

"Uh... technically, if it's already locked, wouldn't that mean it's better to be outside?" Uraraka asked reluctantly.

"Normally," Yaoyorozu agreed. "But I don't think this is a kind of situation we could consider normal. All teachers are inside. Most pro heroes too."

All three looked towards the gate that suddenly looked impenetrable.

"Huh? Midoriya? Uraraka? And... what happened, Yaoyorozu?"

All three turned in a brief moment of panic. Yaoyorozu was the first to relax. Still holding onto Uraraka for support, she smiled awkwardly. "You scared us, Tokoyami-san. Don't worry, I'm alright. What's happening outside?"

Looking completely unconvinced, Tokoyami scowled. "Robots have gone crazy. Shoji, Asui and Hagakure stayed behind to try and stop them, but nothing short of destroying them seems to work. I was going to get the teachers... but looks like that is a dead-end."

"They should be seeing it all on cameras anyway," Uraraka said. "If nobody's coming, the best assumption we have is that they _can't_."

Glancing up into the massive gate, Izuku frowned.

"So the question is, are they being isolated from us, or is it the other way around?" he mumbled, wiping the sweat from his brow. Shoes and fingerless gloves, the only part of his costume he was allowed to have during the festival, were functioning fine, but he had yet to get used to them. And they obviously weren't enough. He could possibly fly over the wall and into the stadium, but that left him too exposed.

 _They have a sniper... probably the same person from USJ too._

If Yaoyorozu hadn't done what she had, it's likely he would've been down on the ground and the villains who'd started this would've gotten everything they'd wanted. _Which is also a question... this is too big to be just about a ring._

"We need a plan," he murmured.

"No," Yaoyorozu said, sharper than even she'd intended. "What we need is _explanation_. We are under attack, the entire festival is under attack. There is nothing we can do to stop the villains if we don't know what they want. Midoriya, if it has ever been the time to tell us what is going on, it's _now_."

"Eh? Deku? But why would Deku know?" Uraraka asked, almost defensively.

Yaoyorozu didn't look away, and Izuku refused to let that intimidate him. If anyone could've figured it out, it was her, but also... they didn't have time for this.

"No, I know," Izuku said, much to both Uraraka and Tokoyami's surprise. "I can't really tell you the details, but at the very least, I know one of the things they are after, and why. It's this."

Looking from Izuku to the ring he'd twisted on his finger, Yaoyorozu frowned. "I suppose there is a good reason for that?" She really didn't look like she was willing to let this go. She was also looking drowsier by second, which meant that what grazed her leg had to be a sleep dart like one of those Reborn used. He had called them Vongola Special Edition at some point.

"I mean, it's complicated," he said nervously. "Just think of it as important family heirloom which got... misplaced, sort of."

"Deku, are you a thief?" Uraraka asked him seriously.

"What? _No._ I mean, maybe? I don't know!" He shook his head, clamping his mouth shut before he put himself in an even more incriminating position. "Can we please just leave it at complicated? I can't possibly explain it in a way that won't sound crazy."

"You mean you're trying to tell us your family is capable of pulling a wide-scale attack on UA? Twice. And that's not the crazy part?" Yaoyorozu just had to point out.

Izuku winced. "Look, I'll explain properly later, okay? But first thing's first, since it seems like we're the only ones who know about him, we need to take out the sniper."

For a moment, there was silence. It seemed that, whatever was going to happen, it all depended on Yaoyorozu. Realizing that their course of action purely seemed to be depending on her, the 1-A vice-president sighed.

"Last I saw, he was the rooftop. School building."

Uraraka blanched. "That's so far! How do we get there unnoticed?"

Looking between himself, Uraraka and Tokoyami, Izuku scratched the back of his head. "I have an idea."

* * *

"What the fuck is going on?!" Bakugou screamed, as he blasted yet another robot to a thousand metal pieces. "DIE, YOU FUCK!"

Not too far behind him, Kirishima choked. "Uh, Bakugou, I don't think this about the race anymore."

"No shit! This fucking can tried to actually kill me just now! They're different from the entrance exam, that's for sure. What I wanna know is why the fuck this had to happen NOW?!"

 _Wow, he's really upset about Sports Festival getting all messed up, huh,_ Kirishima realized. He punched a hole in another robot, while a girl from general course sent him a heartfelt thanks. Kirishima hadn't seen her there a second ago, but it made him blush nonetheless.

"Anyway," he turned back to Bakugou, "don't you think we should call someone? Pros maybe? This is getting kinda crazy, somebody might get hurt."

"If they're dumb enough to be hurt by something like this, then they deserve to get hurt!" Bakugou snapped, while he blasted yet another robot. Kirishima sighed. What else could've he expected, really?

Then he almost fell as somebody ran past him, a loud cackle filling a moment of silence. "This is it, yes this is it! The perfect time for my babies to shine!" And then a pink blurb jumped over the brick wall, trees and vegetation that separated the obstacle course from the rest of the area in a single leap.

Idly, Kirishima wondered what that feeling of impending doom for the villains was there for.

* * *

Another door, locked. One glance to assure himself there was nobody in vicinity, then All Might charged at the door with the full force of One For All, blowing them clear off the hinges.

Midnight, Aizawa and Mic had done a good job, keeping the crowd under control, but there was a limit to what even they could do. In spite of the massive, _massive_ presence of heroes, once the explosions have started going off inside the stadium, there was no stopping the pandemonium.

Problem was, they weren't _big_ explosions. If anything, the closest they came to were the mine field bombs they'd prepared for the obstacle course. They packed a punch, sure, butthey were unlikely to cause any real injuries. What they caused was a flashy boom and lots of smoke, and releasing that in a closed space with a lot of people was going to be chaotic one way or another.

All Might decided that now wasn't the time to wonder how the villains pulled it off inside the stadium with all the security measures in place. Best he could do was make sure all entrances were open, so people could leave without stomping on others once the coast was clear.

He was at the last door when a call surprised him, "Hey, you!"

"... tiny tutor?"

"It's Reborn," the baby bristled. If All Might was surprised by his sudden appearance, he hoped it didn't show. "Anyway, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

That this was a mess that needed to be stopped, immediately? "Vongola, isn't it?" He said instead.

The tutor nodded. "Find Izuku."

"Wait, and you?!"

"I'm going to see what I can do to stop this." And then he was gone as fast as he'd appeared, leaving All Might with yet another worry on top of an already escalating crisis. _So this was all just a diversion? What sort of people are we dealing with here?_

All Might had seen a vast amount of crimes in his life. But somebody organizing mass chaos as a distraction, over something so insignificant was a first.

 _Common sense later_ , he decided. Now he had a student who needed saving.

* * *

"How's it going?" Glancing at the young hacker beside him, Kim dislodged his sniper rifle and left it aside. There was no point. Even if that girl had saved Midoriya by sheer dumb luck and not a Quirk, they were both out of range now, and slowly growing chaos at the location would soon make it completely impossible anyway.

"Robots and stadium finished," La Brava said. "I'm still struggling with the camera drones. Their encryption is complicated."

"Shouldn't that be the easiest part? They're supposed to be public."

"Cameras are, drones _aren't_. I can't make them go where I want without that being traced back to us, not yet. I'm working on it."

Kim nodded curtly. "My apologies for pressuring you. I'm very grateful for your assistance."

"I'm only doing this cause Gentle believes in your cause," the girl sniffed. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm taking Gentle and we're getting out of here, and I don't care at all because I don't care about any of you and I don't care about anything you want. Have I made that clear?"

That sounded... a little too defiant. Still, Kim smiled.

"Naturally. We made our promise to you, and we are going to keep it no matter what."

Glancing at his screen, he could see that about half the team was in position, the rest of them were on the way. La Brava controlled robots had also done well – they'd isolated majority of the area they intended to use as a battlefield. Students had either left the course already, or were being pushed into other areas where they wouldn't be a liability. One of their own cameras had caught Midoriya returning back to the gates, meaning he now had nowhere else to go, assuming Kim's warning shot had scared him off flight for the time being.

"On your signal, I'll tell everyone to move in," he said.

"Good." La Brava took a deep breath, fingers typing relentlessly. "Almost done. Also, agent Kim?"

"Yes?"

The girl didn't look at him, but there was still a noticeable color change to her cheeks. "Thank you for encouraging Gentle to do his best. We both know you only called us here because of my skills. But then you went and called him a part of the team anyway... He really appreciates it."

Kim blinked. "Ah, well..." But before he could recover, she cut him off.

"On my signal. Three... two... _now_."

Finger already on his ear comm and previous conversation forgotten, Kim took one last moment to wonder whether this time, they'd truly gone too far. But orders were orders, and that final moment of indecision was always quick to pass.

"All teams, move in."

When it was all said and done, he did feel a little sorry for Midoriya. Worst thing the kid had done was display his power in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was why, in spite of the orders, Kim didn't mind letting the kid survive.

Well, assuming the rest of the team agreed, anyway.


	11. Sports Festival: Treasure Retrieval Crew

A/N: Agent Kim is like your typical hiring manager, except he works for the mafia. So naturally, all his recruits are a little extra.

* * *

When he'd been first approached with the idea of ransacking the UA sports festival, Gentle thought the world was ending and nobody had bothered to inform him.

Agent Kim and his team of _not-quite-_ _asylum-_ _patients-but-getting-there_ specialists had taken his spit-take to be an acceptable conversation starter, and suddenly he was involved whether he liked it or not.

The team that had introduced themselves as Treasure Retrieval Crew took what sounded like a villain's unattainable dream and made it not only marginally less impossible, but actually doable. He'd found himself sucked into the proposition before La Brava even realized they had guests.

Her opinion had been predictably unimpressed. Gentle's ideas usually left her star-eyed and motivated so this was new, but most of her mistrust into Mission Revival Phase II came from her lack of trust into Agent Kim's crew. After the team had graciously given them a day to talk it over, it wasn't too hard to bring her into the fold. She remained convinced the operation was destined to fail before it even started, but she was quickly proven wrong.

Meticulous planning, communication, professionalism and sheer enthusiasm were only part of the reason the team worked like a well-oiled machine. Team was young, but not only did they have the drive necessary to shake the status quo with their devil may care attitude, they were also ridiculously well-suited to the mission. At one point, Agent Kim admitted his recruitment procedure relied on hiring people who were just crazy enough not to conform to what society classified as normal, but not too far gone to become psychopaths.

Gentle fell in love with them instantly.

Not so much the people themselves as the idea, but he'd grown to like the team eventually. For the most part.

Bruno, for all the boy looked like a brute, was the friendliest of the bunch, supplying everyone with snacks at all times. For somebody who never graduated high school, Gentle sympathized with him on a personal level. Still, that never stopped the boy from asking all the right questions, make all the right calculations, and once the topic of mathematics and computers got brought up, he proved himself over and over to be a genius.

Much to her initial dismay, even La Brava had grown attached to the boy's enthusiasm. His dedication and intelligence rivaled her own, and once he openly asked her for hacking tips, the two had become inseparable.

Mole, on the other hand, was a true dumb brute in all but size. Small, eternally swearing at impossible volumes and sporting equally bombastic hair, he picked fights left and right, and usually suffered for it, courtesy of his more intelligent crew members who'd grown used to his antics. His nifty little Quirk was crucial to the plan's success, but ability to create underground pathways much like his namesake was truly wasted on somebody who didn't know what to do with it.

Agent Kim and Bruno, enlisting Siren and occasionally La Brava's help, had spent majority of their preparation time painstakingly regulating Mole's Quirk so they could set up the backbones of their plan, which included turning the entire UA backyard into their underground playground. After each section they finished, Mole would explode at one person or another, with the sort of brutal honestly and a foul tongue that even Gentle could grudgingly appreciate.

Well, appreciate more than he could appreciate somebody like Siren, anyway.

Siren got in the way, complained, oftentimes put people around him down and generally did things Gentle thought were needlessly disrespectful, such as drinking black tea before breakfast. For a recent college graduate, he was also a lot less smart than he thought himself to be, frequently messing up some basic facts and, more frequently, misplacing everyone's things. His only redeeming feature was the fact he hated bullies more than he hated even vegetables, so he was the first to put Mole in his place when he started picking fights.

On the other hand, Siren's insane Quirk kept their plans on track every time it looked like things were about to get out of hand, and their plan was about to get prematurely revealed. For that alone, Gentle could appreciate his contribution.

Last members of Kim's original six were the Twins, helpfully known as Twin One and Twin Two. Two identical and all too cheerful redheads seemed to believe the rest of the world was their playground and, in line with that, they treated everyone else as their playthings. They didn't speak a word of Japanese, contributed the team in no way Gentle could see, yet they adopted La Brava into their sister society and regularly dragged her into their prank wars with the boys.

Bruno had initially introduced them as fail-safes, and the girls had taken that as a grave offense, for they'd started an eternal prank war that left neither side without its fair share of bruises and missing undergarments.

For such a tight-knit and highly specialized group of young people, oldest of them being the mid-twenties Agent Kim, Gentle never thought he and La Brava would fit in so well. But the group had taken to them like moths to flames, and he'd grown quite fond of them in return. He still didn't know if they'd be able to pull off what they'd set off to do, but they'd made La Brava happy after a long time. In return, Gentle was happy to offer his assistance in spite of the risks. It helped that the kids seemed to think risk was something you ate for breakfast.

Then, day before the big event, Agent Kim brought six more recruits as reinforcements, and the well-oiled machine all but fell apart.

They were sitting in a meeting, after Kim had bestowed the extras with their own nicknames and then shooed them off somewhere else while everyone dragged their feet into their impromptu meeting room. Gentle was oddly honored to be the be included for the first time since this chaotic mission prep started.

Rest of the group was less than enthusiastic, La Brava included.

"Why are they on the team?" Siren asked, before the last of them (Twin Two) had even taken her seat. "They look like they belong in boxing rings, not high priority mission like this. I'm against this."

"Well, you're not wrong," Kim noted dryly, "Boxing ring is exactly where I found them."

"Then send them back. We can do better."

Looking up from his empty mug of beer like he was already awfully tired of this talk, Mole sighed. "They're just fodder, right? Who cares if they're involved?"

Siren looked like he wanted to snatch his mug and whack him on the head with it.

"I know the ugly one, I've seen him on the news," La Brava interjected.

"What do you mean ugly? They're all ugly," Mole interjected.

"Except Doll, she's pretty," Siren agreed.

"The one with a friggin' scar on his face," La Brava hissed. Uncharacteristic scowl darkened her face. "He's a wife-beater who ended up on the street and survived by robbing small shops. We'd be better off just handing him to the cops."

"I say we fire them all and find a new crew," Siren threw in. "Well, we can keep Doll. Her Japanese could use some work, but she's a pyromaniac and we need that. And she's kinda cute, not a fucking psycho like the rest of the lot."

Gentle sort of questioned Siren's tastes when he seemed to like a girl who more or less looked like an actual plastic doll. Then again, from what Kim explained of her Quirk, it was a consequence of turning her skin to plastic. Pros, as La Brava quickly picked up, were that she couldn't get moles or blisters or any skin rashes, but the cons of looking like an actual doll, wide eyes, puffy cheeks and all, outweighed the good sides by a landslide. And her atrocious Japanese didn't need work, it needed a total intellect transplant, maybe from someone who had more than two brain cells.

"Do you want to put it to a vote, then?" Kim asked, and without any preamble, "Who's for it that the current back-up crew stays?"

Much to Gentle's surprise, nobody raised their hands. There was a brief moment of confusion, before several sets of eyes turned to glare at Siren. The pretty boy just sent them a smile. "What? I didn't say anything."

"I'm gonna punch your fucking fuckboy face!" Halfway out his chair, the only thing stopping Mole from doing well on his promise was Bruno hugging him around the waist and Gentle pulling him by the back of his shirt. Mole struggled anyway, before they forced him back in his seat. He glared daggers at Siren anyway. "Later, damn it."

In the end, they put it up to a vote – a proper vote. Bruno had taken it upon himself to explain the situation to the Twins, and like usual, the girls didn't care much about what was outside their own sphere of influence, so they voted for. Kim and Mole were also for keeping the thugs in the crew, and surprisingly, so was Bruno.

"Well, I mean, I don't really want them on the team either, but when you think about it, they're actually not? They should cover the areas the rest of us can't, right? Doesn't that make them a separate strike unit?" he'd explained meekly to La Brava's eyes, full of disappointment and betrayal. Fortunately, he'd taken most of the burnt, so by the time she realized Gentle supported the majority, she'd merely shaken her head dejectedly.

"Don't take it personally, my dear La Brava. I just think we don't have enough time to find anyone new."

With that done, Kim had gone over to review the final team division. Only once he'd placed the wife beater into the team with two other violent thugs, Gentle began to realize there was a gamble in place.

"Their job is just to spread chaos," Kim went on to explain. "If they get caught, so be it. They're strictly hired muscle."

"Then what does that make us?" La Brava asked, still sore about the vote. Ah, brave and lovable La Brava. Gentle knew from the get-go that the only reason they'd ever been approached was because the team desperately needed her hacking skills. If anyone could pull her weight even after such a crushing defeat, it was definitely her.

"Centerpieces," Bruno informed them, with a degree of professionalism Gentle hadn't expected from him. Then the boy smiled. "I mean, you're part of the team, of course, but you're not part of the family. You negotiated your terms, we agreed. If something goes wrong, we're here to make sure you guys can get away." He poked Mole on the shoulder, who quickly nodded.

"Pretty much," Agent Kim confirmed. "You are business partners, so to speak. They are... well."

"Thugs for hire," Mole summed up for him. "They're gonna fuck shit up for a few wads of money. But frankly they would've gotten better if they'd just asked."

And that had been it, end of discussion. It might've left a bad taste in La Brava's mouth, but the world of underworld crime often did.

"We are fourteen in total," Agent Kim continued the meeting. "La Brava and I will take position on UA rooftop. Robots, gates and drones will be up to us. All the mission control will come from there. If opportunity arises, we will try to immobilize the target. The rest of you will be split into teams of three. Is everything clear so far?"

Bored nods came from around the room.

"Good," Agent Kim said. "Twins will take Doll and be in charge of all the commotion outside. Bruno, I'll leave two thugs to you, so you can keep the heroes stationed outside busy."

"Okay."

"Mole, Gentle and Siren, you'll be stationed inside the stadium so we can stick to the timing of the rest of it. Most pros will be there, so you'll have to rely on Siren not to get caught. Don't overexert yourself. If it looks hopeless at any point, or the heroes catch wind of what you're doing, don't hesitate to run."

"Sure," Gentle mumbled, a less than enthusiastic reaction compared to Mole's shout. But at the very least Siren looked like he wasn't all too happy with the proposition.

"So we're sending the worst scum in with the kids?" he asked, delicate brows scrunching at the thought.

"Don't worry," Agent Kim said with something of a smile lighting up his shadowed features. "I've seen those kids during USJ. Robots will be a bigger problem for them than anything those thugs could do."

"If you say so..."

"Right, then. The final stage." Agent Kim fixed his spectacles, which he only seemed to wear occasionally, gesturing towards the images that appeared on his screen. "On my signal, everyone will move in this area on the map. La Brava will unlock these paths so each of the teams can slip in unnoticed and go after the ring. Hopefully we'll have the target tagged by then, but if no, each of the teams has a photo."

" _Ooooh_ so that's why we have the dumb thugs in the course from the start!" Mole laughed. "That's sneaky. That's real sneaky."

"Well, it depends," Kim coughed awkwardly. "The target will probably be expecting us, so it would be best if Siren or the Twins could get to him first. We want to keep the number of injuries minimal."

"You've planned this out quite well," Gentle offered a reluctant compliment, perhaps as reassurance. Maybe it wouldn't be too far off to say that nobody here wanted to hurt innocent children. Except Mole. But then again, Mole wanted to hurt everyone.

Kim merely sighed. "Well, then, that would be it. You all know what you gotta do. Go and get some rest. We have a long day ahead."

* * *

After the first stage reached its end, and Agent Kim gave the signal, everything was still going according to plan. Gentle was pretty happy with it, at any rate.

Situation inside the stadium had devolved into chaos, people were panicking, and not even the pros could keep things fully under control. Siren had done a good job driving some select individuals into panic mode, but not too much to be inherently seen as mind control. All Might going around and blasting the doors open only aided them further, because as long as he was on that, he wasn't looking for them, and that was something even brutes like Mole could appreciate. They'd passed a melted section of a wall at some point, too, probably Endeavor's work, but whether people were going in or out wasn't important anymore.

With Eraserhead, it was a little more dangerous. The man was sharp, armed with a nasty Quirk and nastier attitude, and if he caught sight of Siren even for a moment, their entire plan could fall apart. So they'd planned for Mole to keep him occupied. He was a fighter through and through, and Aizawa's erasure was useless against somebody who never relied on his quirk. They'd just never had the time to implement that.

Instead, Mole had been backing up Siren from start to finish, while most of Gentle's part consisted of creating impromptu trampolines where people least expected them. It was useful in masses and unlikely to get him caught, but also made it difficult to move around too much lest he become suspicious.

Still, somehow, they'd all managed to move into position at about the right time when Agent Kim gave his signal.

Everything went to hell from there.

"Gotcha!" a baby yelled, just as their secret pathway opened.

"Reborn?! _Crap_!" Mole's eyes wide with recognition, he slammed their pathway door shut.

"I'll handle this!" Siren yelled, even if he sounded like he wanted to do anything but. "Mole, in position! Gentle, get your girl and _run_!"

Gentle had no idea who Reborn was, didn't want to find out, but perhaps the last thing he wanted to do was run. Everything had gone according to plan, everything right up until this moment now. He didn't want a baby to be responsible for ruining so much of their effort. But then Mole created a hole that kept the baby busy for less than a moment, grabbed Gentle by the back of his costume, and ran like hell.

And suddenly the plan itself didn't matter at all.

 _Gotta_ _get La Brava!_

So Gentle went.

* * *

In lack of any better options, Izuku and everyone stayed in the start area to work on their plan. Between him, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami and Uraraka, finding a way for everyone to fly had been easy. Given Uraraka could make everybody but herself weightless, that also meant Izuku could reach his best speed without worrying about the extra weight or possible injuries. Rest of the plan had come to them equally easy.

Possibly the first warning sign that they weren't going to get a chance at executing it was a distinct lack of noise coming from the obstacle course. Having gone to inspect that, Uraraka was more than a little surprised. Blinking at the empty space, she turned to Tokoyami in wonder. "Didn't you say they were fighting robots?"

"I did." Tokoyami frowned. Other than some broken robot pieces, everything from the start-line up to the first turn was now devoid of anything, metal or human. There was too much noise coming from everywhere to be sure what was happening, what with explosions still going off outside the stadium.

They exchanged a look, before running back to the group, Uraraka shaking her head. "It's... weird. There's nobody close, and..." a sound got her attention; a click. They all turned to look at the giant, but still firmly locked gate, keeping them apart from the rest of the stadium and any professional help.

Then there was another click, and a small maintenance door they never noticed opened.

Uraraka moved before anyone else could.

Izuku gasped as he, Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami were flung in the air. Having grasped most of her plan, Tokoyami had the Dark Shadow hide them right before the little side door fully opened. Three shapes emerged from the inside hall, two of them looking like any random visitors, if a little more problematic, while the last one had Sports Festival volunteer uniform on him, and a laptop. They spotted Uraraka immediately.

"Huh? You're not the kid we're looking for," one of them growled. Behind them, the volunteer smacked his own head.

Uraraka made a theatrical clap.

"EH? Are you the maintenance staff? Aaah, I'm so glad to see you," she all but cried. "Robots went crazy! This is so much worse than entrance exams, I'm so scared! Can you help me find the teachers? One of those metal tin-cans hurt Mina-chan so bad!" Never mind that with her acid, none of the robots could put a scratch on Ashido.

Still, Izuku couldn't help but grin. _Good move,_ _Uraraka_ _-san!_ _Now_ _we'll know if they know our Quirks or not!_

Two of the strangers shared a look, before rounding on Uraraka. "Beat it, kid. Aren't you supposed to be racing?"

Upping the act of a desperate classmate, Uraraka grabbed each of their hands before they could do anything. "But Mina-chan is _hurt~!_ "

Somewhere behind them, the volunteer began to panic. "Wait, don't-!"

Too late.

Uraraka flung them in the air, then released, stopping the use of her Quirk on Izuku and the others as well. Thugs fell into a heap and stayed there, as Yaoyorozu and Izuku landed on them with their full weight, while Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were already moving to take care of the fake volunteer.

Dark Shadow punched him into the wall, laptop skidding aside. Tokoyami smirked, hand rising in a thumbs-up.

Helping Yaoyorozu and Izuku get back on their feet, Uraraka grinned. "Great teamwork, Tokoyami-kun!"

"Yeah!"

"Um, everyone? I don't feel so good."

Tokoyami froze. "What's wrong, Dark Shadow?" But then both he and his Quirk sagged, and then fell, unable to lift off the ground.

"Tokoyami-san?" Yaoyorozu called in panic.

She tried to rush there, but stopped when the fake volunteer began to rise. Clutching his painful stomach, he recovered quickly, while something behind him began to twitch in the shadows.

" _Ow_ , that hurt," the volunteer said, even as he struggled to stand. "It would've been so much better if I didn't have to do this..." Wiping sweat from his brow, he bent slightly forward. "I'm sorry for all the trouble, please don't take it personally. But we're on a clock here."

Belatedly, Izuku saw a scorpion sting twitch at the end of the exoskeleton tail, far too close to where Tokoyami and Dark Shadow had been.

Then he launched forward, not at Uraraka or even Yaoyorozu, who had been the closest to him, but towards Izuku. Izuku, who still had some trouble realizing he'd actually missed a scorpion tail growing out of a person just now. The sting was coming, and he was all too slow lighting his flames.

Sharp tip coated in paralytic poison met metal, a half-finished titanium plate falling out of Yaoyorozu's arm. "For goodness' sake, Midoriya!"

"Sorry, you had to do it a third time after all," he murmured, but it was fine now. Both the fingerless gloves and shoes Leon had made for him were burning bright, and his hands were in position. He was grateful to Yaoyorozu for buying him that one extra second. He'd needed a moment to prepare. "You might wanna take cover!"

Digging his feet into the ground, he thrust both his hands forward, and focused. Fire built up into a highly concentrated ball of flames, and he thrust forward.

"Flare!"

Ensuing explosion blasted both him and the fake volunteer off their feet. The others had avoided the worst of it, although the explosion of light seemed to do quite some damage to Dark Shadow along the way.

Once the dust and smoke cleared, Izuku picked himself up from where he'd unceremoniously ended up on his butt, _again._ He was really going to have to do better with this technique. Still, he was relieved to know that at the very least, it worked. The fake volunteer was on the ground and Yaoyorozu was already preparing several sets of handcuffs.

Finger pointing, Uraraka had some trouble lifting her jaw from the floor. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Just in case," she said, as she locked the volunteer's hands together, then his feet, then created another extra set to handcuff his hand to his foot and make it doubly more complicated if anyone tried to help him up.

Izuku made a mental note to never piss her off again.

They were just a little too late to notice the movement behind them.

"That... didn't go according to plan at all."

Back on their feet, the thugs Izuku and Yaoyorozu had taken down looked ready for another round. One of them was spinning his hand not too high off the ground, the dirt moving and sizzling under him. A recent newsflash of the Dirt Villain ransacking rich celebrities' houses and leaving them buried in mud came to Izuku's mind.

He moved before he could think, only one counter in mind before the dirt wave came flooding. "Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition!"

And everything was encased in ice.

Both thugs, one attacking, one fleeing. Half the massive gate behind them. And a giant earthwave that had stopped an inch away from Yaoyorozu's face. All of that firmly frozen, Izuku staggered back, instantly exhausted, like somebody had sucked all the strength out of it. No matter how much he trained for it, Zero Point Breakthrough always did that.

Still, his classmates were fine, for the most part, and Yaoyorozu releasing a tiny little gasp meant she'd gotten away without being frozen as well. Izuku managed an awkward grin. "Does that make us even?"

She looked like she wanted to slap him. Oops.

* * *

Grinning at each other, Twin One and Twin Two stopped randomly moving the landmines through the underground maze Mole had created. Their telekinesis was precise, but they'd ended up setting off some of the bombs prematurely anyway. Either way, now that the final bomb was in its place, it was game over. If Bruno and Kim didn't mess up their calculations, the entire refreshments area was going to sink a few feet once it was activated. Whether it really happened or not, Twins didn't care. Their part here was finished.

High-fives done, the twins made their way through the panicking crowds, careful not to activate any of the bombs they'd relocated before they got to their last team member.

From where she'd lit up the final firework set in all the wrong directions, Doll smiled, brushing the silvery hair from her face. Twins grabbed each of her arms and dragged her along, manic grins spreading on their faces as they ran.

They were going to be a little late for Agent Kim's signal, but that was okay. As far as they were concerned, things have gone better than planned.

* * *

It had been maybe minutes after he'd blown out the final door of the stadium, All Might was already on his way to contain the worst of the chaos, but ultimately there wasn't much that he could do. Worse, in all that haste, he'd activated some of the landmines himself. They barely packed any punch, but there was enough smoke to freak out a number of general course students in vicinity.

"I'm alright, I'm alright!" he yelled in passing.

Pro heroes stationed outside had taken it upon themselves to keep the masses under control, and now that there were less bombs going off, it wasn't too difficult of a task. Problem was that plenty of people looked rather shaken by the event, and All Might couldn't blame them. Before he'd seen the situation outside for himself, he'd been thinking they'd find quite a few bodies on the ground, given all the screaming and fireworks and explosions.

After getting there, the worst he'd seen were some light burns from the people who'd found themselves on the wrong side of fireworks, bruises from the landmines and several fist fights that had broken out between visitors pointing each other to be the culprit.

In fact, he was witnessing one fight just like that, coming to an end by extensive application of UA support equipment. One visitor was trapped in what looked like a jetpack and a pair of metal shoes, while the other was endlessly spinning around with the aid of what looked a lot like an exoskeleton movement assistance suit. Pink-haired support course student was cackling madly at her work.

"Rejoice! For you have been the first to test out the strength and durability of my wonderful babies! Now talk! Which one of your ugly friends was it that stole one of my darling babies? Talk, and I may not need to make you suffer!"

"We're telling you, it wasn't us! We're not the villains here, dammit!"

"Oh-ho? You certainly were behaving like villains when I found you!" The student pulled out a remote and pressed a button, and the exoskeleton support twisted in a way that looked to be quite uncomfortable for the spine.

All Might paused, debating on whether he should get involved. The support course student looked like she had it under control, so he decided to keep going and let Power Loader deal with it later.

 _I need to find young_ _Midoriya_ _quickly!_

A woman screamed, not too far, and All Might crossed the distance in a single leap. In the end, it had been nothing more but a landmine, and the woman, a reporter of all things, didn't even have a scratch on her.

All Might, on the other hand, managed to trigger another one when landing. And just as that happened, the ground under his feet began to shake. Then it gave out, the rest of the surrounding area following suit. All Might found himself knee deep in dirt, unable to quite remove the smile from his face even while the reporter shrieked. _This is getting very old, very fast._

More people shrieked, because the ground had not given away there only, but everywhere in the refreshments area. Multiple people found themselves stuck in similar position to All Might, and even more were just flat out stuck waist-deep in mud. He counted at least ten painful cries.

The sirens in the distance were a clear sign somebody had called the police, too.

Vein popping, All Might flexed his knees and _jumped_.

Hundreds of pro heroes, security personnel and teachers, yet they couldn't deal with a situation that was more and more turning out to be a number of wide-spread _pranks._

This was going to be a publicity disaster.


	12. Sports Festival: Finale

Sports Festival was a mess long before Asui truly understood the scope of it. Majority of the students were just like her, bypassing the robots to continue the race. By chance or fate, many of them never noticed that the robots weren't playing around. They weren't taking chances. When they tried to stomp students to the ground, that combined with smoke rising from outside the track was what hinted the things have gone past the limits of the competition.

Asui had almost been too late to save a general student from a lot of pain. Hagakure-chan had thankfully understood the situation quickly, too, and taken it upon herself to shut down the robot. But once the button failed them, it was pretty clear the race was over.

Tokoyami and Shoji helped the girls completely disable the first robot. Being the fastest of them, Tokoyami volunteered to get the teachers.

He was the last person to head back towards the start-line and succeed, before the robots had created a giant barrier and kept pushing the students to continue the race.

Those who could had taken the opportunity to leave the course one way or another. Asui wasn't sure who'd started the trend, but it caught on very fast.

Those who could fight, such as Bakugou, Todoroki and Kirishima, seemed to have taken quite a pleasure beating the shit out of the robots.

A rather small number of students still thought it was all a part of the race and had continued going ahead. Which had given Asui an idea.

"Iida-chan!" she called, after nearly becoming a splatter on the ground thanks to another three-pointer. "Can you help me lure this one to the Fall area?"

Iida looked between her, the narrowing of the course, and then to the part of the course she'd suggested. Glasses gleaming, he nodded, and then he was running circles around the robot, drawing its attention away from the others and towards himself. Before long, systems kicked in and the robot had locked in on him and him alone. There was no saving it once Asui and Shoji pushed it into the never-ending fall.

It destroyed multiple ropes and safe areas the students have been intended to use, rising a large cloud of dust, but that was fine. This was no longer a race after all.

"Good job, Jirou-chan! Kaminari!" Hagakure yelled, as each of them knocked down two robots.

Then Bakugou and Kirishima blew right through the chest of the Zero Pointer and knocked him into the abyss as well.

"Thanks, Kirishima! _Ribbit!_ "

"No problem!"

Somewhere in front, Bakugou exploded, as if to ask, _where is my fucking recognition?_ To which Asui would've just shrugged. Since he didn't ask, she didn't need to answer, and instead she went to deal with another robot.

This was getting just tad concerning, is all.

* * *

Kendou and Tetsutetsu were just getting in on let's see who beats up more robots game that 1-A seemed to be playing. Kendou used her giant hand to throw him into a robot, and it was just like hitting a homerun and they were kinda enjoying the action too. No need for 1-A to hog all the glory, after all.

But then, somewhere in the middle of the course, visibility had started decreasing, and Kendou's half-scream got Tetsutetsu's attention. Multiple students had run out of the fold screaming about something hurting their eyes, so maybe it was a good thing that Tetsu had jumped in already full-iron mode.

It turned out, even if he couldn't see it, he could still hear, and Kendou was clearly struggling.

"Let... me... _GO!_ " There was a loud splat, and an adult body flew right past Tetsu and hit a giant metal chunk of a robot.

"Oi, Kendou! You alright there?"

"Yes! Just, give me a second!"

Then there was a gust of wind, and another, until the mist cleared, and Kendou was standing in the middle of the clearing, fixing her jacket. "Ah, sorry... I didn't think there'd be any adults in this place? What is going on?"

Tetsu shrugged. "No idea. Let's get Awase and Shiozaki, looks like things here are about to get crazy."

"Right!"

* * *

Todoroki caught that bit of the conversation with Kendou asking what was happening, and, honestly, he was wondering the same thing. It had taken reaching the middle of robot area before he realized something was astray, and he'd been almost at the Fall area before he realized he was the only one from his class still racing. Midoriya and Bakugou, who had been half a step behind him, were nowhere in sight. Or at least, that was Midoriya's case.

Bakugou might've been out of sight, but he was definitely still in hearing range, dealing with all the "shitty robots".

Seeing that robots were actively trying to mutilate the students hadn't really come as a surprise to Todoroki – they'd been in the entrance exam, so even if he'd never faced them, he'd kind of been expecting it. That had proven to be a disadvantage, because he'd failed to notice the one thing the rest of them did. Robots were, in fact, actually trying to kill them.

The question was why.

So he'd decided to get a better look of the situation. Singling out the largest robot in vicinity, Todoroki ran to it – then froze it in its entirety, in such a way that the emerging glacier had placed him on top of the robot itself.

What he saw from there was like nothing he'd been expecting.

Area marked as the mine-field looked like somebody had dug it up and left it completely empty. Two or three mines he could see were so obvious that they would've surprised nobody at all, let alone caused any damage.

The Fall area had been almost completely obliterated, thanks to Asui and Iida luring multiple robots there over the course of the last few minutes, and small pillars of smoke were rising everywhere, even from the inside of the stadium. _What... the hell?_

Then, close to the start line, he caught first sight of Midoriya since the start of the race. He was carrying Tokoyami's Dark Shadow, while Uraraka was carrying Tokoyami himself, and Yaoyorozu was limping not too far behind them. Whatever questions he might've come up with, he saved them for later, when he saw two twin girls crawling out of the bush behind them. Then one of them thrust her hand forward and a chunk of the wall separated from the rest of it, knocking Midoriya, Tokoyami and Uraraka off their feet like bowling pins.

Todoroki had seen enough.

Forming another glacier, he was on his way. Asui had the robots under control anyway.

* * *

"AND THERE IT GOES! ASUI-IIDA TEAM SENDS ANOTHER ROBO INFERNO TO ITS ETERNAL CRADLE!"

Few people in the audience still looking at the screens cheered. Aizawa almost smacked his face. Locked in the commentator's booth and all, it looked like Mic had decided to make the best of it.

Aizawa had spent most of his time looking for potential villains, but that yielded little to no results. Multiple people had gone on randomly pointing fingers at the other visitors, some of them pro heroes, accusing them of being the villains. Some of the pros with more pride than sense had taken that as a great offense, and decided to prove the naysayers wrong. Result? Multiple fights with no end in sight.

Aizawa met some of those pros in person, knew how they behaved in crisis, which was why he was convinced the interpersonal accusations were the work of a villain. Problem was, he had no way to prove it, or stop it. Trying to erase all the Quirks in vicinity didn't work because he couldn't find the perpetrator himself, and slowly scanning the entire stadium worked against him, because it could've easily stopped the other teachers' Quirks as well.

In the end, even if anyone had yet to report catching any villains, teacher's booth was thankfully empty. All Might had taken it upon himself to open all exits. Midnight and Ectoplasm were doing crowd-control. Aizawa and Snipe were out looking for suspicious faces who might've been using their Quirks to fuel the panic, but that was easier said than done with so many people panicking everywhere. Even Principal Nezu had made an appearance, however brief, and whisked Endeavor off somewhere to deal with the crisis his own way.

Power-Loader was still down by the start-gate, trying to override the safety mechanisms. They could've had All Might open up that, too, but it risked caving in part of the stadium roof, so they'd decided against it. Finally, all three greens blinked to existence, and Aizawa breathed a sigh of relief. They could get to the students, and the crowd would at least calm down once they saw the door open. But as much as they should've, they couldn't.

Aizawa directed the _what the hell_ look at his colleague.

Power-Loader shrugged, as if to say, _not my fault they won't budge_.

Then he started digging under it, and Aizawa sighed. He started looking around again, for any suspicious activity, when Power-Loader returned, much paler than usual. "Uh... Aizawa, I think I know what caused the explosions. Also, you might wanna come take a look at this?"

One skeptical look at Power-Loader inviting him to come along into his tunnel, Aizawa followed. One look told him everything he needed to know.

An underground network of small tunnels, which nobody would've noticed if they hadn't tried to go under the gate. Those tunnels weren't large – they couldn't fit anything much bigger than a soccer ball. But UA sanctioned mines were just small enough to get through.

"I thought the explosions were uncanny," Power-Loader said darkly. "Which begs the question of how they could've possibly moved the bombs without setting them off. I sent a drone in, I wanna see the how far it extends."

The fact the villains had managed to create a complex set of tunnels that went a full meter under-ground, possibly more, and done it under their high-secured noses, using it to somehow transport UA's own festival equipment, that was a heavy blow that Aizawa didn't quite know how to take.

"Don't relax just yet," Power-Loader told him a little too giddily. "There's more."

 _Like I would._ Still, Aizawa kept it to himself. Blowing up now helped no one.

Once they emerged on the other side, there was no need to ask. In the shadows of the stadium roof, where the other side of the start-gate should've been, was a frozen mountain of dirt. And not too far, similarly trapped, was a teen in yellow volunteer shirt, scrunched and cuffed with at least four sets of handcuffs and a frozen scorpion tail rising above his head.

"Doesn't this look like the work of that problem child from your class?" Power Loader asked.

This time, Aizawa did smack his head. Although it was more like cradling it, really. "Safe to say there's gonna be villains behind all that dirt."

"Well, at least it looks like the students caught on faster than we did," Power Loader noted brightly.

"Just... get back to work."

That's it, sports festival was over. There was no saving it.

* * *

Siren was no physical fighter, Reborn realized soon after the kid started attacking him to make sure the rest of his little gang could get away. What he was, is an excessively clever college kid with more guts than sense, and a nasty little Quirk that was a lot more trouble than it sounded.

Siren Voice sounded like something ripped straight out of ancient Greek mythology. Sirens used their voices to lure sailors into their domain, yadda yadda, did with the sailors whatever, yadda yadda. It translated to CEDEF agent's Quirk, just not quite the way most would expect. Siren could only use his voice on one person directly, if he wanted to go unnoticed. And if he wanted to control more people with more precision, he could do so, by using his already acquired target to do so. Degree of control dropped dramatically the more he delegated the tasks, and it made his targets all the more likely to break out of it. After his voice was spent, his Quirk was useless until it fully recovered, which took roughly twelve hours or so.

Reborn was just lucky Thyme had been willing to share the details. Knowing it didn't exactly help him escape it, but at the very least he knew that Siren wasn't somebody who could be in the field for a long time.

On the other hand, Thyme's price for that info hadn't come cheap, and now it was Reborn's job to make sure her team wouldn't end up arrested.

As it was, he wasn't exactly sure he could keep that promise. Siren had already made sure that Mole and that weird hired muscle were out of Reborn's range of attack, and Siren himself looked all too willing just to keep Reborn busy. Which meant that, while Thyme had warned him her team was out to make a mess, she had also warned her team that Reborn was out to kick their ass, and that was _annoying_.

"All right, let's stop this," Reborn said, and put his hands in the air. There was no point. If the kid had chosen anyone else as a body shield, there would've been plenty Reborn could do. But the kid had picked out Cementoss, who was not only a pro-Hero and Izuku's teacher, but also utterly untouchable by any bullets or darts that Reborn had in his ammunition.

"That's a trick," Siren said, very calmly for somebody who'd spent the better part of this fight hiding behind a human cement shield.

"Maybe," Reborn agreed, "but you've also been over-extending yourself for a while now. From what I know, you can reliably control up to twenty people for about thirty minutes a day, but from what I've seen, you've done quite a bit more today. Once your control over Cementoss is out, you'll be in a pinch, don't you think?"

"Heh, I'll figure it out," the kid dismissed easily. "You should be more worried about yourself."

Reborn jumped out of the way of a cement wall in the last second. "Listen," he said, throwing his gun away as the last sign of surrender. "I don't really care about how big of a mess you're making here, but those heroes down there do. You already made a mistake of using your powers on a pro. He might not remember it all later, but he'll remember enough. I'm perfectly willing to let you go as long as you and your team pack it up and leave Midoriya alone."

"Yeah, right. No dice," the kid said, but there was a noticeable crack in his voice. He was reaching his limit, and he knew it. "Cementoss!"

Reborn let out a pained sigh. "You asked for it."

Pro-hero slash teacher was already trying to trap him in a cement prison, but Reborn was done playing. He'd made a promise to Thyme. He'd also made a promise to Tsuna, his wife, and the rest of his family, and look where that got him. Dealing with an all too spirited kid who didn't know when to call it quits.

If Colonnello decided to call him grumpy grandfather the next time he ran into the CEDEF executive, then so be it. He was way too old to be dealing with this shit.

"Release."

Bones cracked as his limbs extended and body grew, taking its original shape. Cracking his knuckles, Reborn let the tip of his lip twitch slightly. Even his original form wasn't all it used to be, but well. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

Hiding behind Cementoss, who was all too heavy and all too slow, Siren never saw it coming.

Reborn moved around the pro-hero shield like it was never there to start with, delivering a solid roundhouse kick to the kid's head. Siren hit the nearby wall and crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Eyes half-open, the kid still seemed mostly conscious of what was going on, but disoriented. He couldn't move more than his fingers.

Not too far off, Cementoss' knees hit the ground, as the pro-hero started looking around in wonder. "What... what happened?"

Reborn tossed the kid over his shoulder and grabbed his gun a second before the pro hero could see it, then he was gone faster than the eye could follow.

Couple seconds later, they landed on the roof of the stadium, eliciting a scream from its other occupant. A girl. Reborn almost shot her out of sheer and slim, with long silver hair and a yellow volunteer t-shirt, same as Siren wore, was what stopped him at the last second. Her all too unnatural eyes widened in recognition, flying from Reborn to barely-conscious Siren on his shoulder to the gun aimed at her chest, before slowly lifting her hands in the air.

"You're one of his, right?" At her non-response, Reborn dropped the kid at her feet. "Get him out of here."

And then he was gone, eyes scanning everywhere around. He had to find Izuku, before the rest of Kim's team did.

* * *

Izuku knew it was coming. But with Tokoyami and Dark Shadow relying on him, and Uraraka too nauseous to make them float, there was nothing he could do when a chunk of wall knocked them all down, other than warn everyone to brace for impact.

As the only one still standing, Yaoyorozu fell into a fighting stance immediately. But drowsy, tired and with her leg in pain, there wasn't much she could do. Still, she created a simple metal pole and launched into an attack, only to be met with another chunk of wall ripped out as the last line of defense.

Izuku had just managed to pull himself from under paralyzed Dark Shadow before he was face-to-face with a smiling foreigner who looked all too happy to knee him in the groin, grab his wrist and twist it, until he was eating dust on the ground and she was comfortably sitting on his back.

"This was surprisingly easy," she said in accented English.

Worse, she almost managed to get his ring off, before a burst of fire forced her to jump. "Ow. Okay, nope." Izuku scrambled back to his feet, while the girl glared him up and down. "Doll!" Then she blinked owlishly, realizing that whomever she was looking for was nowhere in sight. "EH? Crap, sis, where did Doll go?"

"Hell if I know!"

"Ugh! Then, Sis?"

"On it!" The other twin easily pushed Yaoyorozu aside, pulling what looked like a thin rope from her pocket. She swung it forward, and the rock at the end of the rope continued spinning around Yayorozu before she could do anything. "Gotcha!"

"EH?" Yaoyorozu trashed and moved, but the ends of the ropes seemed to be working like magnets, tightening the rope around her as tight as it could go and locking her in place, while the twins high-fived behind their backs.

Then they focused on Izuku with wide grins on their faces.

"This... looks like trouble," Uraraka said, moving to stand next to him.

"It is bad... from what I can see they're just restraining Yaoyorozu now, but if they have enough strength to rip out concrete..." Izuku didn't finish that thought. Uraraka was getting nauseous again and it had nothing to do with her Quirk.

"Right. Any ideas, Deku?"

"I'm thinking..."

"Think faster!"

A wave of cold air was all the warning they had.

They jumped back, just as a wall of ice cut the ground between them and the twins, cutting Yaoyorozu away from them as well. Izuku winced at the raging screams in accented English that came from the girls. From the panic in their voices and his own limited familiarity with the language, Izuku was pretty sure Todoroki had just frozen them at least up to their waist, hands included.

"That was awesome!" Uraraka cheered.

Looking at all of them, Todoroki's eyes lingered on Tokoyami's form as he struggled to lift himself up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Paralysis is wearing off, I think."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Uraraka sighed. Moments later she returned with Yaoyorozu leaning on her shoulder. There were traces of red on her arms and bare stomach from where the ropes had tightened a little too much, but otherwise she wore a brilliant smile.

Power Loader and one of Ectoplasm's clones found them shortly after, commending them on their quick reactions and arresting the twins. Teachers quickly assured them that the stadium was now completely open and the situation was under control. They'd informed them that some general course students had caught two villains trying to spread panic among the students, while class B had taken care of a pervert who'd taken to assaulting the girls only.

Everyone knew at this point that the sports festival was going to be officially canceled, but at least the crisis was over.

Maybe it was that relief of the teacher's presence and the fact that the twins had been so easily subdued. Maybe it was just because he'd been so tired. But whatever the reason, Izuku never noticed it. The small, brief smiles the twins exchanged as they were taken away. And the slightly different weight on his finger, off for just a tiny bit.

Later on, everybody would go on to call this incident one of the best examples of wasted effort on the villains' side, causing a huge commotion which ultimately achieved very little tangible success.

But in the eyes of those who'd started the incident, it wasn't wasted effort at all.

* * *

 _Got it_ , flashed on Kim's phone screen just as he and La Brava started putting all their equipment away. Their motion sensor triggers had given them a warning that somebody was approaching – and one look with Kim's Super Vision was all they needed to know that the somebody in question was trouble.

"Leave it," he told La Brava when she tried to pick up the laptop, and he smashed it with his sniper instead.

"But-"

"I said leave it! Mole and Gentle will be here in twenty seconds. They're your escape route. Until they get here, I'll buy you time."

"But it's Endeavor and the principal!" La Brava screeched. "What are you going to...?!"

Kim threw his phone at her, two words on it grabbing her attention. Meekly, not quite daring to raise her voice, La Brava asked, "We did it?"

Loud banging of the locked doors as they hit the wall one floor beneath them had them both jumping.

"Give that phone to Mole once he gets here."

"But, what about you?!"

Kim dropped his sniper rifle and picked up a dart gun. He took a brief moment to give her a reassuring smile. "Like I said, we keep our promises."

Then he was running, slamming the door leading to the roof shut behind him, and he didn't make it past several stairs before he was standing face to face with Japan's Second ranked hero and the principal of the very school he'd just made into his playground.

Keenly aware of just how much time Mole and Gentle needed to make their escape with La Brava, Kim slowly raised his hands, struggling very hard not to smirk at them. "Well... this didn't go according to plan."

"Throw that gun over here before I make you," Endeavor said.

Kim happily complied. Endeavor caught it with his foot, then melted it along with all its contents. Principal however, looked more upset than anything. _Smart enough not to look gift-horse in the mouth, no wonder you're the principal._

"Endeavor, you take care of things here. I'll head upstairs."

"Yea, yea. I got him."

Kim tried not to growl as the pro twisted his arm none too gently. It was fine. Super Vision activated, he could see the air pockets Gentle created as the remainder of the group escaped. Principal returned seconds later, expression on his mousy face as far from pleased as physically possible.

"There is nobody there. All that's left is a sniper and some badly damaged equipment. We'll have someone look into it later. Let's hand him over to the police first, and put an end to this scandal."

As the principal scowled at him, Kim merely shrugged. If there was something to make him afraid, police definitely wasn't it.

* * *

 _This is not what I wanted_.

Standing on top of the UA stadium, thousands of miles away from home, Doll watched the utter mayhem their actions had caused.

 _This is_ not _what I wanted..._

Siren, writhing on the ground in pain, likely suffering from a minor concussion, was not far behind her.

Inside the stadium itself, the smoke had mostly cleared and the screaming had stopped. More than forty people had been put to sleep by one of UA's teachers. Less than a third of them had been under any form of Siren's influence. For the most part, the chaos inside the stadium had been relatively easily contained.

Outside was a whole different story.

Wiping a stray tear from her face, Doll watched the people slowly come to their senses. After that centerpiece bomb had been activated and the entire area turned into a _break-your-ankle-haven_ sort of place, most of the remaining mines had been destroyed as well. There was no food, drinks or any sort of stand that had gotten away without damage. One of the flags was still burning after all the fireworks Doll herself had set off.

Heroes were helping each other and everyone else get back on their feet. Mothers were calling out for their lost kids. God, _kids_. So many little kids had come to watch the festival, and they'd put them all at risk and they never even thought twice about it.

I _never thought about this... never even considered this..._

Knees hit the ground and tears came flooding on their own. Doll tried to wipe them away, but they were faster than she could get rid of them. Sniffles followed later, and a sickening churning of her stomach at the police and ambulance sirens that finally arrived.

"Hey... Doll..." From where he was still lying scrunched on the ground, Siren tried to move. Most he managed was a twitch of his muscles while he the low, raspy voice, only barely there, was best he could manage, "Hey... Don't... cry... we did it... we finished the mission... so why...?"

Phone fell out of his trembling hand, a text message flashing on the screen.

Doll hated herself at that moment, she hated herself more than anything else. Siren thought she was just an overeager pyromaniac who'd accidentally overheard them needing one. All of them thought so, and even Kim who was always so suspicious of everything never even thought that she might be anything other than what she said she was. She'd never given them any reason to think otherwise. She'd tried _so hard_.

 _And this is the result_.

Fear, panic, chaos.

Forcing herself to get up, Doll crossed the small distance that separated her from Siren, before kneeling down next to him and brushing sweat-drenched hair from his face. She didn't understand what Reborn said, but he'd left Siren with her instead of taking them both, so she chose to interpret that as "keep him safe".

 _I will._

"... Doll...?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, fighting tears before they turned into full-out sobs. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. Cause I'm not good enough, I never was..."

"What... are you talking... about?" Words died on Siren's lips as she brought her face close to him. Gently cupping his cheek, she pressed her lips to his forehead and closed her eyes. Her previous body stiffened and fell.

A couple seconds later, Siren's eyes opened wide. Trying to get accustomed to the new body, Doll massaged the side of her head. It took effort, but she managed to get up, a little unsteady on her feet. _Ow... talk about a concussion. Poor Siren... Reborn really did a number on you._ She'd have to stop by a hospital before she tried anything else.

Glancing at her old body, Doll scowled. Now that she was out, the body had gone back to what it used to be; a simple shopping mannequin with a silver wig and some extra clothes. Picking up Siren's discarded phone, she dismissed the urgent message that marked this mission a success, and opened the group chat. Mole had marked himself safe, sent an additional message to confirm Gentle and La Brava were with him.

Nobody replied.

Wiping away another tear from her cheek, Doll held back a sob. Time for crying was long over.

 _I have to fix this._

Eyes back on the phone, one simple click marked Siren safe, too.

As the Nineteenth boss of the Vongola Family, Ria promised herself he would be.


	13. Fallout

A/N: Police faces complicated investigation, UA faces public criticism, Izuku faces guilt... League of Villains rejoice.

* * *

Bar was dark and empty. Kurogiri was cleaning, and Shigaraki was on his laptop – as usual.

What was not the usual was the news playing on the laptop. UA sports festival had become something nobody had ever thought it would be – a target of mass criticism and public outcry. The event itself could be summed up as the stunt which the League had attempted with USJ, just on... grander scale. Since the event was airing on national TV and wider, the exposure the perpetrators had gotten was through the roof.

Something Shigaraki was clearly not happy about, given how he was clutching onto his bottle of coke and cursing into his chin.

Kurogiri was fairly certain that eventually, he'd started taking notes. Curious and pleasantly surprised as he was, he never bothered asking.

Cameras had been on throughout the entirety of the crisis, periodically switching from the crisis inside the stadium, to explosions outside, and the students inside the field. Kurogiri had to admit it, minds behind the invasion had done an impressive job. Nobody thought using UA's own landmines could create such chaos. Although Kurogiri was certain there were far more layers to the plan than what could be seen with on the news.

Things inside the stadium had been all the proof he needed. People randomly running around and screaming. Pros attacking people for seemingly no reason. People attacking other people for no reason. A teen confessing in an interview she thought everybody around her were villains, much to everyone's shock.

Cementoss, a UA teacher, admitting that he couldn't remember what he'd been doing and where he'd been during most of the crisis. Well, that was so far only an internet rumor, but Kurogiri believed it. There was footage of him fighting, after all.

Cameras were everywhere, so Kurogiri was certain the police already had the faces of all the people who'd participated in this. Initial analysis episode, _Sports Festival: What went wrong?_ was launched not ten minutes after all the feeds from the location proper had been cut off on police orders. By that point, rumors had it five people were arrested, some of them familiar to police. One hour later, information became a lot more precise.

Close to two hundred people suffered injuries, more than half of them the unfortunate bastards who'd been caught in ground-sinking event that destroyed roughly eighty percent of the terrain. Most were twisted ankles, some bruises. There were a few light burns, an occasional scratch. Midnight had put around fifty people to sleep, and the community wasn't sure if that made her the MVP of the event or a controversy of the worst order, for using her Quirks on people who she was supposed to be protecting.

In the end, only one thing was certain. UA was about to face a scrutiny of the public of the kind it had never received before. Kurogiri was pretty sure school would never recover from a blow like this. Which, ironically enough, made their job quite easier.

Shigaraki continued watching the news with a crazed attention to detail.

"So, may we get your account of the events?" interviewer on the screen asked to one of the many visitors.

The man appeared vaguely ill, nervously looking for one side to another. "Well, uh, everything was normal at the start, right? My buddy and I, see, we wanted to get some takoyaki and we'd been by the food stands when explosions started everywhere. There was smoke, people were screaming, nobody knew what was going on, y'know? Eventually this student came at us, screaming something and then she started putting this weird equipment on us? Yea, and then it felt like my spine was breaking!"

"A student?" the interviewer gasped. "Are you sure it wasn't one of the Villains?"

"Hell if I know, but she sure had UA uniform on her."

Then the man left, and the reporter turned back to the camera. "So far, sources report all nine villains currently in police custody have been caught by the students themselves. In light of such critical event such as this, how is it possible that the top hero school had teachers utterly incapable of resolving the crisis? Stay tuned, we will be back to you with more interviews directly from the scene of crime."

At some point, Shigaraki laughed. Then he'd cursed, and then he'd complained about his thunder being stolen. Then he was back to being irrationally happy over modern's society strongest pillar being ridiculed by the public at large, never mind who set it up.

For the most part, Kurogiri just did his thing. Until they heard from Sensei, there wasn't much else they could do – except maybe look for Stain. With the UA invasion as the main topic of the day, the infamous Hero Killer's appearance in Hosu had gone virtually unnoticed. But given how obsessed Shigaraki was, clicking on any piece of info he could get on the current state at UA, Kurogiri figured now wasn't the time.

That was okay. They could do it later, anyway.

* * *

In the end, the incident itself had been awfully short. From the moment the obstacle race was announced, to the moment the police had arrived, it had been roughly ten minutes. Most villains had been captured or immobilized before that.

When she heard that, Uraraka thought everybody was joking.

Less than ten minutes. In such a short time, the entire sports festival got so messed up. Even after being so quickly resolved, the event was canceled for the foreseeable future.

Uraraka wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. She settled on a pathetic, "No way," because she had nothing more constructive to offer. Ten minutes, and after that teachers had everything under control, the police was there and the danger was over.

Ten minutes only, and it felt like they'd lost, anyway.

Or at the very least, Deku did, and for Uraraka that had been more than enough.

Not long after all the students were taken back to the school building, All Might isolated her, Yaomomo, Todoroki and Tokoyami from the rest of the class, refreshments and all, leading them directly to a detective with a quiet apology, while two officers took Deku the opposite way.

The detective smiled at them, introduced himself and looked overall pleasant, but Uraraka couldn't help but feel like this was All Might trying to ease them into the bad news.

In the end, All Might put his hands in a prayer position and bowed.

"I know this may seem an odd request, but please hear me out until the end," he told them, and the girls shared a fearful look. "I don't know how much young Midoriya told you, if anything, but it is a fact that you four have been directly involved, therefore you are the only ones we can ask. If there is anything about the villains that stood out, or seemed odd, please tell Detective Tsukauchi. Whatever it is, no matter how small."

For a long time, there had been silence, Todoroki perhaps the only one who had nothing to say.

Uraraka didn't know why Yaomomo and Tokoyami said nothing, but she was grateful. If Deku was in trouble, she didn't want them to make it any worse.

Ultimately, All Might sighed. "I see... I thought it might go this way. If it helps, I know about young Midoriya's... peculiar circumstances, so to speak. What he lost may be a family heirloom, but it is ultimately a highly valuable object of dubious origin. Anything you may know could help in further investigation, but I would prefer it if you wouldn't spread the story around. It's troublesome enough as is."

After another minute of tense silence, Uraraka forced herself to ask, "So, Deku is not in trouble?"

"Not at all," Detective Tsukauchi informed her. "Well, for the moment anyway. Given you all used your Quirks on school grounds and during school event designed for that purpose, no student is going to get in trouble over fighting with the villains."

"Then where is he?" Uraraka asked, more bravely this time. "He was right next to me and then two police officers just took him-"

"Calm down, calm down!" All Might urged. "Young Midoriya has gone back to the stadium with the police officers. They managed to move the Scorpion villain to the holding cell, but due to the nature of young Midoriya's Quirk, there isn't much that can be done in regards to the remaining two villains he'd frozen."

"So he has to unfreeze them?" Yaoyorozu muttered in shock, hand flying to cover her lips. Uraraka was pretty sure she was just trying to hide a yawn.

"Well, he's with Aizawa, so it's okay," All Might gave her a thumbs up.

"Indeed," Detective Tsukauchi confirmed. "We'll probably have him over by the station later, too, so we can interrogate the Scorpion villain as well. Best we have so far is that he goes by the nickname Bruno. Have you heard of that before?"

Slowly, all the kids shook their head.

"That's alright, then I'll just-"

"Detective!" A police officer ran over, phone still in his hand. "We just got a call. They have the Dirt Villain and the Milk Villain."

"... Milk?" Tokoyami asked, bewildered.

"Ah, sorry, that's how they called him, I don't really know," the officer told them lightly. "Anyway, they need you there, sir."

Detective Tsukauchi shared a look with All Might. Uraraka had no idea what it meant, but she guessed nothing good. Then detective turned back to the kids, giving them each his calling card. "If you remember anything, call this number and ask for me. For now, we want to keep this on the down low, and it'd be best if you only spoke directly to me. All Might, I leave everything here to you."

Then with a nod, he was gone.

All Might turned back to the kids with a smile. "You all did well, I'm proud to say. I implore you not to worry. Everything will be alright."

It sounded a little too good to be true. Uraraka wondered if it was because Deku of all people looked like his world had been crushed. He'd always been the most motivated of all.

"Ah, All Might!" Yaomomo called, and Uraraka tensed.

"Yes?"

Yaomomo hesitated. "What... does it... What would it mean if..." But she couldn't finish her question. Whatever it was she wanted to know, she couldn't ask, and Uraraka wondered if maybe they were the same.

"Don't _worry_ ," All Might said with a brilliant smile. "Everything has a solution, including this. So, for the moment, just think of that. Time to rest is equally important as the time to act."

With that, he excused himself, instructing them to wait for Aizawa's return before going home, while he checked on the other students.

After he was gone, there was a long moment of silence, before Todoroki turned to look at everyone else. "What was that all about?"

The rest of them collectively sagged.

* * *

"Good work, Iida-chan."

Looking up from his orange juice, Iida smiled. "You as well, Asui-kun. That was an impressive idea to put an end to the violence."

" _Ribbit_."

They shared a look, before turning back to the Group. The ones whose performance everyone praised the most. Midoriya was somewhere else, clearly, but the rest of them all huddled in place, pale and tired. Well, everyone except for Todoroki, who looked insistent on getting some of his questions answered.

In the end, Yaoyorozu dozed off while leaning on his shoulder, and after two attempts at waking her up failed, and the third one had Uraraka yelling at him, Todoroki grudgingly accepted his fate of being Yaomomo's pillow with as much dignity as he could muster.

"So it's true she got hit with some sleeping drug?" Iida asked after some time, much to Asui's surprise. The frog girl nodded.

"And it's also true that Midoriya's quirk is the same as Todoroki's?"

At that, Asui shrugged. "So they say."

"But it's not. Midoriya's use is more versatile, while Todoroki packs a stronger punch. He's also able to cover a wider area…" Iida mused. "Then again, Midoriya can fly... It's a strange case. Similar, but not."

"Well, I'm just glad everyone is okay," Asui said. "But it's a shame about the festival. Is it true there won't be school for a few days?"

"Two at least," Iida confirmed idly, while he pulled his buzzing phone from the pocket. Leaving his orange juice on the table, he excused himself. Mom's picture on the screen, Iida had a feeling he knew what this was about. Swiping, he put the phone to his ear. "Hello. Mother? I just called to tell you that I'm alright, everything ended well—"

"I heard, I'm glad, but I'm sorry, Tenya." From the tone of her voice, he knew immediately something was wrong.

"What is it, mother? What happened?"

"It's… it's Tensei… your brother, he… a villain got him!"

There was a soft crack as Iida's phone slipped out of his hand and landed on the floor. Spider-web like pattern spread along the screen, as his mother's voice rang through the hall. "Tenya? Tenya, are you there?"

If she wasn't hysterical, Iida didn't know if he would've picked up his phone. He didn't know if he could've. But he did, and in a voice that wasn't quite his own, he said, "I'm on my way."

* * *

Melting a giant earth-wave essentially meant burying everyone in vicinity in a mountain of mud, Izuku learned, himself included. After the villains were safely arrested and locked in the back of police cars, there wasn't much left for him to do – Aizawa directed him to a changing room in the stadium which had a shower, and Izuku followed through mainly because he had no better idea what else he could do.

Once he made it there, though, he didn't make it a single step past the door before he closed them and simply stayed there. Fell, and didn't bother getting up.

 _Gone._ Just like that.

One moment, the ring had been right there, safe, or at least with him, so if somebody tried to take it, Izuku was confident he could make them stop.

 _How do I fight a telekinetic?_ Not even any kind. Those girls ripped pieces of concrete out of walls. But it never crossed his mind they could take his ring off, let alone replace it with another. Heavy piece of jewelry fell from his hand and rolled across the room. Izuku didn't bother picking it up.

When things come down to it, he ultimately had just one job: protect Sawada's ring. He'd been looking for reasons why he should for as long as he could remember. It was his source of power. It was dangerous. It was a gift intended for him. If it didn't belong to him then he wouldn't be able to use it. But what it all boiled down to, when all those whys and ifs were taken away, he _wanted_ it.

He couldn't describe it. Maybe he was afraid to try.

Now it wasn't really a problem anymore. Not _his_ problem, at any rate. Twins made sure of that. Vongola Boss, whoever that was, made sure of that. Izuku helped them, with his thoughtlessness and stupidity.

Soft knock sounded against the door, and Izuku ignored it. Then it was back again, but he refused to move. He didn't know why, his body just wouldn't.

"Stop being a brat," Reborn's voice came from the outside. "Let me in."

As if on autopilot, Izuku lifted himself of the ground and opened the door. Then he just sank back down, waiting for it to come. Screaming, shouting... heart wrenching disappointment of the person who only ever saw worth in him thanks to what he'd lost. After this catastrophic mistake, Izuku deserved nothing better.

"What's that miserable face for?"

Hiding from Reborn's eyes, Izuku buried his face in his knees. Explanations and excuses came on their own. "I just... I had to keep it safe... Just that. No more, just... and I couldn't. I never even realized." Tears started and he hurried to wipe them away, even if the dirt and mud form his hands only made his eyes burn that much more. At least that gave him an excuse to pretend he was a little better than a crybaby.

Reborn just watched him, in all his bawling glory.

After a few moments, he said, "Twins are masters of misdirection. One of them moves things according to the movement of her hand, while the other one can move anything she touches. If you'd known that ahead of time, maybe I could look at you and honestly tell you that you could've done better."

Knot in Izuku's stomach twisted that much tighter.

"But you had no way of knowing that, and that's on me."

Not quite believing what he heard, Izuku suppressed a sniffle. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain in more detail later. An old friend still owes me a call. That will clear up any doubts I still have about this event. But until then," Reborn's lip curved just a little, the tinniest bit. "You did well, Izuku."

This time, when the waterworks came, Izuku didn't pretend he was somehow better. He hugged his knees and he sobbed like a baby.

Eventually, Reborn got tired of listening and kicked him into the shower. By the time Izuku finished cleaning the mud off and drying, his mind was clearer and heart calmer.

Lounging on the table, likely bored of waiting for better part of an hour, Reborn tilted his fedora. "I take it this means you're ready?"

"What... are we going to do?"

"Get the ring back, of course."

Izuku looked at Reborn. Reborn smiled back. It was a particularly toothy smile.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Izuku asked before he could help it.

"That depends on your teacher, really."

It took two seconds for Izuku to understand what that meant. Then he blanched. "Reborn, you can't just blackmail All Might! I knew it was a bad idea letting you meet him. What did you _do?_ "

"I did what any good tutor would," Reborn said. "I called in a pro."

And that, Izuku decided, meant nothing good at all.

* * *

Heavy air gathered in the teacher's room, once Nezu and Aizawa joined the rest of the faculty for the emergency meeting. Similar circumstances from a couple weeks ago with USJ came to mind, yet the situation now was at the same time more and less dire than it had been before.

"Well, here's the good news," the principal said brightly, "the Ministry won't shut down the school."

Nobody deigned to meet that joke with a laugh.

Nezu cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that's the only good news. The Ministry of Education has decided that we will need to operate under their strict oversight for the foreseeable future. Safe to say that sports festival's status as an annual event is being revised as we speak."

"You mean to say they won't be sending in some office clerks with tablets to spy on our classes like some inquisitorial squad from hell?" Vlad King asked immediately.

Nezu smiled. "For the moment, no."

Several teachers released a breath they didn't know they'd been holding, All Might included.

"Then what about the rest of our plan for the school year? First years mainly, but the rest of them as well?" Midnight asked.

"Safe to say, summer camp is not happening," Nezu informed them. "USJ had already made the board queasy in regards to that, but you can think of what happened at the sports festival to be the final nail in the coffin. Ministry wanted to shut that down, and the situation now is such that there is very little we can do to disagree."

"Fair enough," Power Loader sighed.

Snipe nodded in agreement. "From the beginning, summer camp relied on us proving the students were safe in our care. Hate to say it, we dropped the ball on this one quite badly."

"There's no helping it," Nezu allowed. "We were lucky there were no serious injuries. At the moment, there are no lawsuits filed against us, but a vocal minority seems very offended that we didn't punish our students for defending themselves."

"Uh… what?" Ectoplasm said, eloquently. Then he slammed Hound Dog's mouth shut before he could explode.

"Idiots who don't realize that kids using their Quirks in hero school grounds during a ministry sanctioned event and in self-defense is perfectly legal," Aizawa said darkly. One of those reasons would've been enough, but all three combined made that much more legally justified. But people complained anyway, because they couldn't use their Quirks for every little thing.

Which was why the expressions on some of the teachers' faces were desperately praying for sanity. Or alcohol, whichever came first.

"Young Hatsume is a separate problem, I'm afraid," Nezu told Power Loader sadly. "Ministry is asking for suspension on shaky ground, which we have no reason to comply with, but use of support gear is strictly regulated and therefore some sort of repercussions are in order. It's unreasonable, but it is what it is. I hope you won't mind if I leave it all to you, Power Loader."

A tired sigh escaped the head of the Development Studio. "Well, I expected something like this. Tell me, principal, I'm free to instill any kind of punishment I want?"

Nezu smiled. "Of course, as long as it comes in form of extra school hours."

Several sniggers passed around the room. It might've seemed like punishment for any other student, but extra hours in a lab for Hatsume would be anything but.

"Back to serious matters," Nezu said. "As we discussed, internships will happen anyway. We won't be accepting any outside requests this year and we'll be firmly sticking with the established agencies."

"Wheeew. I was almost scared that wouldn't happen. That'd be even more damaging for the school at this point in time," Ectoplasm said.

"Indeed. Well, it was too late for changing that, anyway, though it may make it harder for the students to choose the direction they want to develop in," Nezu informed them. "It also means we'll be able to conduct end-term exams according to our own liking. Biggest problem is what we'll do in regards to the first year's hero course further careers."

"… the ministry won't let us apply first years for the provisional exam, will they?" Midnight asked darkly.

"I'm afraid second years are up in the air as well."

At that point, there was no holding back Hound Dog from losing it. Explosion of rage that followed was more or less expression of all the teachers' feelings, though few deigned to act on them.

"They can't do that. Every licensed hero school in the country allows second year students to take the exam. They can't put in a clause that stops our students!" Vlad snapped.

"That's true," Nezu agreed. "In fact, given that we've already received an approval at the start of the year, they shouldn't stop the first year's from taking the exam either."

"All I'm hearing is that somebody's really got it out for our necks," Snipe noted. "So, what are we gonna do about that?"

"Work within the given restrictions," Nezu said simply. "The only thing definitely canceled is the summer camp, but we may be able to reverse the provisional license exams, given time. Until then, we need to make sure our students are prepared for it, whether they take the exam or not. I don't think anyone here needs a reminder, but I'll give it anyway. Laws, rules and regulations change, sometimes far too easily. It is our job to make our students prepared for what's already out there regardless."

"Well, that settles it then!" Midnight grinned. "Poor kids are in for some grueling training… but after we all get a round of drinks."

* * *

As was becoming increasingly typical over the past year, CEDEF office was a mess.

Head of the office was typically calm in face of all the pressure that came with the job, but right now, Agent Thyme was anything but. "I want Mole on the plane ASAP! I don't care how you do it, just get! Him! _Back!_ Kim, Twins and Bruno are under arrest. I want people in touch with all our contacts in Japan! I want details on everything concerning those arrests, I want to know why it happened, who's behind it, I want _everything_ , you hear me? And where the fuck is Siren?!"

Taking a moment to breathe, Thyme tried not to wonder how she let things get out of control this badly. She should've put a stop to this the moment Kim left for Japan, but she hadn't, and now her entire team was missing.

"Siren is safe, ma'am," one of the new recruits said. "Why are you asking-"

Thyme closed her eyes and prayed for patience, lest she punched someone's teeth out. "We lost his GPS tracker _one hour_ after he checked in. That can mean a lot of things, from bad to fucking irreparable, so stop asking stupid questions and find him. Isn't there any agent on field who's tracking him for Christ's sake?!"

"Uh, field unit two just got in touch, ma'am! They sent... a photo?"

Biggest screen in the room lit up with a picture of a phone, one which Thyme distinctly recognized as Siren's thanks to the green pattern. Screen was lit, and there was a message on it. Thyme was a little startled to find the message to be in English – she'd been expecting Japanese, or possibly Italian.

"Ask unit two for a screenshot," she demanded, stomach twisting. Siren wouldn't throw his phone away. Even in one of his fits of selfishness, he wouldn't. Unless if he was hiding from someone on the inside, which opened another road of possibilities. Thyme stomped on that notion and kicked it out the window. She couldn't afford to suspect everyone, not now.

Screenshot appeared then, and the message was fairly simple.

 _1st question, what's mission revival?_

Tense silence hung over the office. Thyme felt all eyes on her, and her hands balled into fists.

"Um, ma'am?" the recruit hesitated. "I wasn't aware there was a mission like this in our register?"

"There isn't," Thyme said. For what it counted, it was true. Mission wasn't on the register. In fact, as far as Thyme knew, Mission Revival had been scrapped long before she'd become the head of the office, two years ago. The only reason she knew about it was because the previous boss insisted it never got started again. _Siren isn't supposed to know about that._

Nobody was.

 _Kim knows_ , Thyme amended, because he'd been Eighteenth Boss' Cloud Guardian around the same time that mission was archived forever. _Boss also knows_. As the External Advisor, it was his job.

Nobody on tactical teams would have a way to find out, or a reason to care, which was a safe sign Siren wasn't asking that question. _But then, who is? Who took his phone?_ Reborn was the first who came to mind, but it would be in Reborn's best interest that Mission Revival never saw the light of the day again. Then again, he profited more with her team not being under arrest, so his status as a wildcard remained. Midoriya? _Doubtful_. Kid had shown zero interest in using his right to inherit the family. Moreover, how could he possibly find out?

But, perhaps most importantly, what happened to Siren?

 _Goddamn it. My entire team is_ gone _._

"Find Siren," Thyme ordered, before someone else got the bright idea to start asking all the wrong questions. "And get me Miss Martillo on the phone." Ria wasn't supposed to know any of this, Kim and his stunts included, but time to keep the little miss in the dark was long over. Thyme needed the big guns, and she needed them now.

"Ma'am, you want to get Nineteenth on the phone? But, protocols-"

"Screw protocols, my team is in jail. Get me Ria Martillo on the phone, now."

"Yes, ma'am! Calling her office now."

Thyme should've known things were never _that_ easy.

Ria never answered the call. Which, all things considered, should've been a warning sign. But that went forgotten when the newest report from Japan came in.

"Um... ma'am...? Our sources just confirmed that Agents Kim, Twin One and Twin Two have been placed in their holding cells, they made contact. Agent Kim says they'd all gone through an interrogation. Bruno... didn't."

Thyme froze, all previous concerns forgotten. "What do you mean, he didn't?"

"I'm looking into it now, ma'am, but he was never sent to prison. All his records we had just minutes ago are _gone_."


	14. Target: Ria Martillo

A/N: Chapters 1 through 13 from the other side of the lens.

Ria Martillo had it all. Then she suddenly didn't.

* * *

Sawada bloodline was blessed with a lot of things, such as intelligence, courage and history. With name came recognition, came honor, came power. Came responsibility.

But every Sawada saw responsibility in a different way.

Ria wasn't a Sawada, she was a Martillo. Her father was a Martillo, and her grandmother also. Grandma _had_ been a Sawada, but she'd also been the only child who thought preserving family tradition through a name was a joke. People were supposed to create their own names, give them their own meaning, not just inherit somebody else's fame.

Dad thought she wasn't being realistic. Most of the Family did.

Ria thought grandma had made up for it with sheer intensity, charisma and all-around badassery, but dad never talked about _that._ He talked about wrong choices and missed chances, about failures and mistakes. He wanted to be free, but then he got shackled with somebody else's responsibility, and the world wasn't as pretty as grandma made it seem.

He said Ria was like that too – a Sawada in spirit, but couldn't see past her own vision of reality and understand the big picture.

Ria thought dad was the one who was missing the big picture.

The Vongola Family was never about the name. It was never about the power, the glory. It was about family. About loyalty and perseverance, about fighting for those who couldn't fight for themselves, regardless of what the law said.

She just wished she hadn't been proven wrong in the worst way imaginable.

* * *

 _A_ _year ago, Italy_

The Family was in an uproar, and nobody bothered to tell Ria why.

People were coming and leaving, the entire upper management of the family was fighting, and the most that got out of the office was that somebody had screwed something up, _again_. Ria didn't know much about running a mafia family, but she was pretty sure there wasn't supposed to be that much shouting.

"What's going on? Is it a turf war again?" she asked one of dad's guardians who'd skipped out the meeting on purpose. Unlike dad, most of them seemed to understand that telling Ria there was trouble on the way was more effective than letting her walk out into the street thinking everything was fine and then get shot at.

Dad's Rain merely smiled and shook his head. "Naaah. One of those rings from Decimo's time popped up in Japan, it's gotten the wrinkly old geezers in a frenzy."

"Not too hard to get them all snazzy," Ria agreed. She bumped fists with the man and grinned. "Then I don't need a beretta at school. Should I bring a taser, just in case? Or some of that other lovely equipment you guys never let me have?"

"Keep trying, kid. If you were mine, I'd have you kicking ass day and night, but your old man's word is final on this."

"Shhh." Ria winked at him. "With Sofia as my best friend, I'm kicking ass anyway. Don't tell dad. He still thinks I can't punch for squat, I'd like to keep it that way."

The man laughed, and Ria moved on with her life. School was a mess, university applications were starting, and she'd set her mind on either dance or acting, whatever would put her on an international stage and away from home first. Dad wrote her off as an heir before he'd ever been made into one himself, so if she stayed, the best she'd get would be an office clerk or a hostage – both of which she'd tried and decided weren't worth her time.

In a way, she thought she had it all planned out.

Dad, unfortunately, disagreed.

He'd looked at her university application once, and said the exact thing she hoped he wouldn't. "Ria, for god's sake, I thought we discussed this? Anything other than the entertainment industry is fine. You _promised_."

"I did," she agreed. "But then you said hero industry is out too, and the only thing I want more than being an actress is being a hero, so I compromised. Your turn."

Dad shouted, dad complained. He never understood that she'd wanted to be Family before anything else, nor his hypocrisy in telling her to choose any career she'd like while nipping them all in the bud. Maybe Ria wasn't trying hard enough. Maybe he would've caved in if she'd killed a _capo_ in public, and then every other family would be out for her blood. But if that was what it took, was it even worth to try?

When her university rejection email arrived in early July, Ria decided it was time to stop compromising.

She was eighteen, and she was _useless_. Granted, most other eighteen-year-olds were useless, too, but their fathers weren't running a crime syndicate. Ria had grown up surrounded by people capable of killing a room full of armed assassins. Her dad was a certified badass. Her best and only friend was four years older, head of an intelligence office and had a kill count of twelve before she'd started high school. Even her mom, for her trophy-wife status, could incapacitate a gorilla of a man without so much as breaking a sweat.

Best Ria could do was punch a backstreet mugger in the face, and it wasn't even a _good_ punch. If dad's Rain guardian and Ria's hypercompetent best friend hadn't taken pity on her after _that_ public embarrassment, she wouldn't know how to handle a gun, which made her more useless than her cleaning lady.

 _Maybe it's time I take things into my own hands._

So, she'd grabbed her backpack, wallet and phone and left without a word. It was supposed to be a test of just how far she could get before dad's guardians hauled her back by the scruff of her neck.

Quite far, it turned out. All the way to Milan.

Dad's guardians showed up, of course. They went home once they realized she'd landed a job and an apartment in under a week, and returned with household appliances, wads of money and a beretta 92, to help her get started. Apparently, she'd beaten them all at some sort of an inane bet, and it was only fair they backed her up when she'd done the one thing they'd given up on before they'd hit their teens.

Given she'd been born into a mafia with the kind of history few could rival, Ria didn't know if she should take that as a compliment or an insult. Either way, she kept the gun.

By the time September rolled around, she really thought she'd made it. Working as a hotel receptionist wasn't as glorious as she'd been led to believe, cooking was hard and there were days she'd rather spend in bed than go out, but it certainly wasn't _bad_. Sure, her colleagues saw her as a little too paranoid, but considering they tell apart a businessman from a mafioso any day of the week, Ria was pretty sure they were the odd ones. At least no one showed up on her doorstep at two am while covered in blood, so that was a plus.

Of course, it didn't last.

Mom and dad waited in front of her apartment building one evening, and Ria didn't know how to take that. Her best friend slash CEDEF executive called. Dad's guardians called. Even chef Rossa called. They never did. Ria knew they'd be upset, thought them justified, even. She'd never stopped to wonder why she'd never called them instead.

An awkward hello later, she let them inside. Mom scanned the place, the frown on her face like she didn't know whether to complain about the shelves or the curtains first. Ria wondered how she'd freak out if she showed her the bedroom, and decided to leave that for last.

They'd barely spoken two words when dad decided to crush any last remnants of a good relationship that stayed between them, and handed her an envelope with the fake name she'd used for work.

"I applied you for business studies," he said. "Poilitecnico di Milano is one of the best in the country. They accept transfers, if you'd like some other department more. Their dance group is regarded as one of the best in the world."

Ria's first instinct was to tear the paper to shreds. Second was to breathe, keep it civil and explode later. Kind of like with annoying guests.

"Thanks, dad, but I have a job. You were right about foreign languages being the key to the future. My managers still can't believe I speak five, but they like me anyway."

Dad looked at her like she was a disappointment. Who knows, maybe she was. Ria didn't know what she'd done wrong this time, so she tried not to let it bother her. "Do you want some tea? Will you stay for dinner? I don't cook, but I've discovered this thing called delivery... It's a far cry from aunt Rossa's cooking, but it's good."

"I thought you'd be smarter than this," dad said. "Working in a luxury chain hotel, when you could _own_ it...?" He shook his head, like the very notion insulted him. "You could do so much better."

Ria stopped trying to pretend her kitchen appliances are the most interesting thing in the world, and turned to glare. "If you thought so, then maybe you should've let me try."

"I _did_. Do you think you'd still be here if I didn't? Ria, you're a Vongola – no matter how far you go, you can't run from that."

"That's the thing, dad. Unlike you, I never _tried_ ," Ria said, as evenly as her voice would let her. "Do you think I left because of the family? I left because of _you_."

It hurt, she knew it did, from the way he flinched and tried to pretend it didn't. But he was stubborn, and maybe that's where she got it from, because he refused to let that put him down. "You're my daughter, am I supposed to let you become a criminal? I wanted a different life for you. You could do better. You could do so much better, so why should I let you ruin your life?"

"Then _what_ am I supposed to do?" Tears were coming, and there was no fighting them. She tried to pretend she could, anyway. "I always wanted to help the family, you know. Uncle said I'd be boss one day, too, so I wanted to be strong, but you said no. Then you told me to do what I want, but isn't that a paradox? I find something else, something outside the family business, but you say no again. And the cycle repeats, over and over. If I said I wanted to eat pizza, you'd bust into my room out of nowhere and tell me to get something else instead, but you'd never say what. You'd never say _why_. It's like every choice I make is a wrong one and, well... I don't know. I'm never good enough. I guess I just learned to live with it."

Dad watched her for a long time, stony face barely changing. He looked… so much older. Ria still had photos of him from fourteen years ago, when he'd first become the boss. She'd been four, and she'd looked a lot like him. Now she didn't look like anyone in the family. Mom wore too much make-up to look younger. Dad looked like he was in his late fifties, even if he'd just hit forty-five.

That life was ruining them, and Ria hated it.

She hated what it was doing to her as well.

"Sorry," she said, voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't mean… you know. Forget it." She stumbled into the couch, wiping the tears away and ignoring their stunned silence as they stayed standing by the door. "I'm sorry. Just, go home."

"... okay," dad said, and Ria wasn't sure if she'd heard that right.

"Okay, I'll go home," he said again, and for a moment, Ria wasn't sure which one of them looked more lost. Then he looked around the apartment, looking like he'd much rather set a bomb in it than stay any second longer, like the place was somehow at fault that things didn't go according to his plan.

Then he sighed, and the look was gone. "Do you need anything? Do you want me to send you something? A microwave? Blender?"

Ria shook her head.

"Nothing at all?"

"I'm fine," she said. "But, if you're already feeling generous, send Sofia here for a few days. Make it a mission if you have to, she never gets a day off anyway."

"You know that's not my call," dad said softly.

"It never is, boss."

"There is maybe something I can do, if you promise to come home on weekends."

Ria just sighed, as he shrugged unashamedly. She should've expected nothing better, really. He was a politician, right down to the last cell in his body. Ria wasn't.

"Okay," she said. "But not every weekend."

* * *

Sofia visited in late October. She didn't walk around with bruises and broken bones anymore, instead she donned a suit and a tie and looked more like a rich businesswoman than a mafia executive. Ria hadn't seen her since she'd became CEDEF's second-in-command, and the change was staggering.

"You could call me mission control," Sofia said over one beer too many, after she'd unbuttoned her shirt and thrown the tie out the window. "But I'm more like your uncle's assistant, except I do all the actual work while he lounges around in his spinning chair and drinks mojitos."

Ria clicked her beer bottle against hers and cackled. "You forgot Christmas socks. Does he still punch people when they're late?"

"Nope. Since your dad put Kim in CEDEF, he orders him to do it instead. Can you imagine Kim punching anyone, that suit and glasses and all? Pffft. I told the Twins, if they ever get it on video, I owe them a trip to Haiti."

"Ooof, that huge of a stick up his ass?"

Sofia shrugged, then giggled. It was an alien sound. "Your dad's crew was always a little too formal. I think he's just starting to realize that, as fancy as it sounds, CEDEF is nothing more than a dysfunctional mess of an office."

Ria had only met her dad's new Cloud twice before he'd been transferred. First time she'd been at school, and some random kid from class threatened her with a beating because she'd cut in line. Kim had overreacted, to say the least, but considering what sort of stories the rest of the guardians must've told him, Ria couldn't blame him. They were pranksters at the best of times.

Second time, he'd visited her new apartment with the rest of them, and gave her a pen which Ria found out the hard way wasn't a pen at all. "Never hurts to be too careful," he'd said, after she'd almost set her apartment on fire, and that was her first cue he'd been fitting right in with the rest of the lot.

"He'll figure it out," she said.

"Don't they all?" Sofia shrugged. "But enough about me. I'm sick of being Agent Thyme all around the clock. Your turn. How's life? Your apartment is much better than your old man made it sound."

"Leave it to him to describe my living space as a haystack." Then she'd launched into long explanation of work dynamics, general idiotism and the overall boxed thinking that would've had her colleagues killed if they so much as attempted to step into organized crime. Compared to Sofia's job, it all sounded so incredibly boring, but Ria liked to think she didn't completely screw it up. Unlike Sofia, nobody cared if she got drunk on a day off. Then again, Sofia didn't really get a day off.

 _Not even today._

Dad might've made a promise, but her uncle didn't. The very fact Sofia was there meant at least one of them thought she needed protection, and both girls knew it. They just liked pretending they didn't. But when Sofia dropped all pretenses, that was the sign that something was really wrong.

"Hey, Ria, be careful, okay?" she said later, out of nowhere, inadvertently confirming any worry Ria might've had. "Maybe I'm overreacting, but I want you to be safe."

"What's going on?"

"There's a potential heir outside the family. Some kid from Japan."

Ria's first thought was, _Well, that's bad news._ Outsiders always were. Her second thought was even more disheartening. _N_ _o wonder dad's okay with me_ _here, he finally found a replacement_ _._

It was widely known nobody in the upper ring of the family thought Ria was a viable heir, much of it thanks to her dad not wanting her to be one. But apparently, she'd been replaced by a kid. That ought to bother at least some of them. _It bothers me. What makes him fit but not me?_

She took that question and stomped on it, because, damn it, last thing she wanted was to be a mafia boss. But unlike this kid on the other side of the world, she'd spent a short part her life thinking it might happen. She'd like to think at least that made her more qualified for the role, but what was the point if no one else agreed?

"Thanks for telling me," she said instead, as lightly as she could. "I can take care of myself, but I'll keep it in mind."

Sofia grinned. "Liar. But don't worry, I got your back."

* * *

 _Early February_ _, Italy_

Sofia just canceled her visit. Or rather, she'd canceled her visit during Ria's visit, which was arguably worse.

Ria didn't come home very often, in spite of her promise. She'd kept it down to once per month, to keep things fair. In that time, Sofia visited twice in total. She'd never showed up when Ria was home. When even uncle found time to visit in December and Sofia didn't, things started falling in place. Ria was spiteful, and finally she saw where she'd been getting that from. Uncle was still upset she'd left without a word, and he wasn't above dumping all his work on Sofia as revenge.

Now, Sofia canceled last-minute, it was one day after the funeral and her parents had shown up at the station in person. Ria was done waiting for answers.

"What's going on?" she'd asked, no preamble, no greetings. "Why are you here?"

"Not even a hello? Really?" Dad might've said it as a joke, but it didn't come close.

"Don't joke around, your Rain guardian is dead. What's going on?"

In the end, mom said it was a mission, which translated to "none of your business". Dad said they'd talk later.

But there'd never been a later. They didn't make it two blocks past the station. A pick-up truck slammed into them at one of the crossroads, and the only things Ria remembered after the car had stopped spinning upside down was pain, more pain, and gunshots. First one for her dad. Second one for her mom. Third one should've been hers.

She didn't remember it.

She didn't remember anything up to and including waking up in the hospital a week later. She only found out she'd been awake from somebody who was actively talking about that when she came to her senses, and whose voice sounded familiar but she couldn't exactly place it. By the time the cotton in her ears went away, she had other things to worry about.

"Sofia?" Ria tried, only to be met with a dry throat and barely functioning tongue. She couldn't open her eyes. Or rather, she was pretty sure she'd opened them, but she wasn't seeing anything. _Uh-oh._ Somebody gave her water and she swallowed it, but it tasted weird. "Sofia? What…" _happened?_

Restraints. That's what kept her from moving, it had to be. That could be the only thing that would explain why her body wasn't reacting even though she was _trying_.

"Breathe," a voice said, unknown. Young. "You just came out of your third surgery this week."

"Alright, but what happened? Why can't I move? Why can't I _see_?"

A hand closed around hers, and Ria felt grateful that at least she could feel the touch. Her mind was coming up with things she'd never wish on a worst enemy, and she desperately needed someone to tell her she was wrong.

"It's experimental treatment. Doctors said you responded well during the process, so it'll be a couple hours before you can see," Sofia said gently. "Don't panic."

"Then what about the rest of my body?" Ria was trying really hard not to panic. She was pretty sure she was failing miserably.

"You suffered spinal cord injury in the crash," the stranger's voice informed her. "We had the best medics working on it, but we'll know the results once the anesthesia wears off. "

 _Oh,_ Ria thought. And, in a slightly more accustomed part of her mind, _there goes the dancing career_. She couldn't even blame dad for screwing it up this time. Then she remembered the gunshots.

"What… dad… and mom…" she didn't finish it. Couldn't, and didn't need to. The way Sofia squeezed her hand was more than enough.

Maybe it was part of the experimental treatment, but Ria didn't cry. Maybe she couldn't. Or maybe she'd always thought it would end this way. Mafia careers typically ended before they hit their forties, even the best of them. Ria's grandma had been a boss for a long time, but she was the exception that proved the rule.

None of that should've stopped her from crying.

"Now what?" she asked, eventually. It's not like she had many people who cared about her, and whom she cared about in return. Without them, did anything have a point?

"You're Nineteenth Boss of the Vongola family," the stranger informed her. "The Family needs you."

If Ria could've, she would've cried. Instead, she laughed. "Are you fucking kidding me? I can't move my bloody fingers, how am I the boss of _anything_?" Ridiculous. Dad would've never, under no circumstance, left the Vongola to her. "Oh no, don't tell me that kid in Japan is dead too. For fuck's _sake_! So _what_ if he's a potential heir, he's a kid! Oh God somebody please just… just shoot me now, I can't do this. I can't deal with it, just shoot me, damn it!"

"Ria? Ria, calm down! You're panicking, you have to calm down or you could—"

"If I'm gonna die, just let me die. Get _out_."

Ria remembered being put back to sleep, and she remembered being angry about it.

Next time she woke up, it didn't matter. It was just the first breakdown of the many to come.

* * *

Sofia hadn't been lying about her eyes. Ria's sight returned within a day, but it was never quite what it used to be. Blurry at the edges, not much detail in the distance. Moving properly came later. To a certain measure of 'properly', anyway. She could sit up. She could lift things, provided they were lighter than a glass cup. On a good day, she could stand up, even if she'd fall back down after less than a second. Nerve damage was such that she could barely write. _It'll get better with time,_ doctors said. Ria believed them. Part of her wished she didn't.

Ria couldn't talk to Sofia during recovery period. Sofia would start apologizing, and that would make her feel worse. Sofia must've gotten the hint, too, because she'd showed up once over the next two weeks, and stayed less than five minutes. Instead, Reborn kept her company, and 'kept her alive', in his own words. Apparently, she'd almost strangled herself in her sleep once.

Ria wasn't sure if that made her an asylum case, but she certainly felt trapped enough.

"So why would you do this?" she asked at some point, days after he remembered to introduce himself. Reborn was a legend. The best assassin Vongola family ever had. He was also a traitor in spirit, and somebody who left the family the moment his vision of it crumbled apart. Ria didn't know if that made him a person of integrity or its polar opposite.

"Consider it a favor," he said.

"Get me a gun so I can shoot myself and then we'll talk about favors."

"You'll need plenty of favors as a boss. You need to learn how to ask for them properly."

Ria glared. Reborn stared back.

"I hate you," she said.

"You hate everyone."

Ria just sniffed, pouted, and turned to sleep on the other side.

Later, she was upset with herself for being such a brat. Reborn made her angry, but he also kept her focused, so maybe it wasn't fair to say she hated _him_. What she hated was what happened. The people who shot her dad. The people who made her into something she was never meant to be.

"Cause Ria would hate it if I involved an innocent child," Reborn paraphrased dad's will at her at some point. The hitman liked it, and Sofia let it slip that Reborn was tutoring the kid who was dad's initial pick for the boss. For someone who was famous for training multiple bosses over the years, Ria didn't see why he was so against it now, and Reborn's answer was fucking disappointing.

"My student wants to be a hero."

There had to be a grand cosmic joke on her expense somewhere in there, and she didn't appreciate it.

"What is it with the Sawadas always wanting the one thing they can never have?" she asked.

"What is it with the Sawadas deciding they can't have something before they even try?" Reborn deflected.

Ria didn't have the answer. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted it. Therein, the paradox.

At roughly week four of her stay in the underground hospital, Reborn came to say goodbye.

"My student is starting school soon," he informed her. "I missed his entrance exams because of you. I can't miss anything more."

Ria ignored that jab in favor of a much more personally relevant fact. "He passed?"

At Reborn's nod, she wondered if she would've made it, if she'd tried. Unlike dad, at least she had a Quirk, even if it was never put on any register. No Quirk in the family ever was. Either way, Ria's wasn't a very useful one, other than to land herself a job by foul play, which didn't exactly count as heroic behavior. Then she remembered her dad's stunt with the arts school, and realized choice had never been hers to start with. It made her illegal Quirk use feel a little more justified.

"Train him well," she said.

"Does that mean you decided to be the boss?"

It was like the question was designed to rub her in all the wrong ways, but Ria liked to think she was getting better at this Reborn game. "Sure," she said. "The odds of getting a gun are that much better, so I can't complain."

Reborn didn't look too surprised, which meant he was getting better at his Ria game, too. "Who're you gonna shoot first?"

"The bastard who killed my mom," she said. "And then the bastard who ordered the murder of my dad. And then, probably some other bastard who was involved with it all… and if I ever end the cycle of revenge, the last bullet is for me."

"You really decided to take this to the extreme, huh?"

"Sasagawa style."

"You're not _that_ good," Reborn said, just like he did every time Ria tried to cheer herself up. She didn't mind.

He picked up her decimated family photo, and frowned. "I take it Thyme told you the order most likely came from the inside?"

No, she actually hadn't, but Ria guessed as much. People on the outside profited while Vongola warred on the inside, but few would dare to cause it. And historically, the only things that could defeat the family was the family itself. "I'm okay with that," she said.

"No, you're not."

"It's not like anyone asked."

Reborn had nothing to say to that. He'd left her a phone instead, _in case you ever need advice_ , and an address, _in case you ever need comfort._ He didn't say goodbye, but he said _Ciaossu_ , and when things came down it, it meant all the same.

Ria burned the paper before he'd made it out the front door. For his safety, for Midoriya's, and for her own.

She memorized it, though. She'd hate herself even more otherwise.

* * *

In early April, Sofia filed in for what she'd called a final transfer. Ria didn't need a hospital anymore, not after it had turned her into a ghost. Pale, weak, with an ugly scar on her temple and long hair cut short for the brain surgery. It was like a skeleton with her rough features took her place, but apparently, she didn't need a hospital anymore.

What she needed was wheelchair, human interaction and quite possibly her first alcoholic drink of the year, which Sofia had snatched before she could even open the bottle.

"Nope, none of that until your bloodwork analysis comes back right."

"You do realize that the only reason it sucks is because I didn't get what the rest of the world is entitled to? Namely, proper _food_."

But Sofia ignored her the way she usually did, helped her into a car, and from that moment on, she was no longer Sofia. She was Agent Thyme, and Ria was forbidden from addressing her as anything but. In return, Ria was Miss Martillo, Boss, the Nineteenth, or Diciannovesimo, or whatever other stupid title people had come up with. From this moment, she stopped being a person and she became a symbol, and maybe she'd been destined for it after all, because the change had come all too easily.

Then again, maybe not.

Running a mafia turned out to be a much smoother ride than Ria expected. Which meant she'd been doing it wrong from the start. She tried not to take that to heart. Ria knew nothing about running a business, and mafia was much the same.

Two weeks of her bossing around taught her that half the family was working behind her back. Dad's guardians were just that – dad's guardians. They were used to the way dad used to run things, so that's how they'd kept the family from tearing itself apart while Ria was still recovering. They thought Ria would return as a blank slate, follow-our-advice kind of person, but she proved them wrong from the get-go when she ordered a total report on all their underground businesses. She wanted to know it all, and they only showed her half.

They loved her, but they didn't respect her. They wanted to protect her, but they refused to listen.

Ria's first plan was to send them away. But she couldn't. They'd lost their Rain, they'd lost their Sky. Before all that, their Cloud had joined CEDEF, and they were doing things the only way they knew how. So, she let them.

It's not like she was handling it any better.

Sofia and Kim weren't hers either, and that had been a tough pillow to swallow. They both cared about her, but her uncle was their boss, and CEDEF worked separately from the rest of the family. It was only now Ria was beginning to understand why dad could never keep Sofia around when she'd asked, and why Sofia never tried to stay.

Maybe she'd been spoiled sweet a little too much. The more she learned, the more she missed her apartment in Milan.

Family didn't see it fit to inform her of what they were doing, so Ria returned the favor, which lead up to a lot of complaints, visits and insults. It had also led her to the first hint of foul play on the inside.

Namely, one associated family's hitman was arrested in Japan around the same time Reborn left.

A pang of worry had Ria using her powers for the first time. But she'd been worrying for nothing. It was public secret that Reborn and his student kicked the assassin's ass, and Ria was proud.

On the other hand, mission had come from someone inside the Family itself, and that was a problem.

Ria's dad had utterly refused to bring Midoriya Izuku into the fold by naming Ria the boss at the last minute, and ring retrieval had been pending, but in the end overlooked, because Ria found out about it too late, and half the family wanted it regardless of what she said. Ring was capable of selecting the next boss, they said, therefore their decision made a wicked kind of sense.

 _They're already looking for my replacement._

Ria would be perfectly fine with that, if it didn't also mean assassinating a fifteen-year-old who could actually use the power left by their ancestors. Not that she wanted him as the boss either, but there had to be a better way of doing things. The Vongola family survived without the ring, and succession crisis now wasn't nearly as dire now as it had been in Decimo's time. Ria wasn't the only heir, she was just the direct one. Her uncle was next in line, but being CEDEF put him out of the running.

That left dozens of others, all of them part of the bloodline one way or another. Ria would've gladly left the family to either one of them, if doing so didn't also mean potentially leaving it to dad's murderers. She was way too spiteful to do that.

 _I need to know who did it._

Who killed her dad? Who was running things behind her back? Who wanted Midoriya dead? Were all these the same person, or was there more of them? So many questions, but at home she was powerless to get the answers.

Everything the family knew about her amounted to what her dad did – and that, as much as it pained her, meant they only saw her as a spoiled brat, in way over her head. She didn't have the grit, the charisma of a boss. She didn't have the education. She didn't even have a tutor, which made her job that much harder. Therefore, she wasn't supposed to be just a boss. She had to be _the Boss_. The meanest, the scariest.

Limited sight couldn't stop her. Wheelchair either. They tried to kill her before those happened, and now it made her that much more vulnerable. She couldn't let them exploit it.

So, after she'd spent days planning, she finally made her move.

She'd picked up her pen, Kim's gift, and headed for her room, smiling at dad's Storm as she passed him. "Keep me safe, alright?" He was the only one aside from Sofia she'd trust with that. "And send someone with cookies."

A couple minutes later, Ria Martillo was asleep, soon to be transferred to a hospital based off of faint pulse and chronic anemia, and aunt Rossa was walking out with a step a little too hurried for her old age. By the time she was in the kitchen, a security officer was leaving the house a little too early, and then a passerby called a taxi. Ria had never learned how to drive, so she didn't even try.

Before long, she'd found the connecting flight, and the right passenger.

Soon after, she was in Musutafu city, Japan, possessing a shopping mannequin she'd snatched out of a mall, because one thing she'd hate the most was if she got someone else hurt in her stead. And what she'd found wasn't what she'd been expecting at all.

 _CEDEF is after_ _Midoriya_ _... Kim's team..._ _But w_ _hy?_

She thought assisting them may provide more information, but she'd been wrong. Kim and his team seemed convinced the orders came from Ria, but they hadn't. Using her and Siren's Quirks in tandem, she hoped she could get everyone out of prison, get Midoriya to melt Bruno, and possibly form a team she could count on, but...

 _But_.

Standing on top of a skyscraper and using the phone she'd taken off a police officer earlier, Ria watched as Bruno's frozen body was being loaded on a helicopter. Belatedly, she remembered to take photos.

 _Is that the government? What is going on? W_ _hy would the government get involved?_

It didn't make sense, it didn't make _any_ sense.

She'd come to Japan hoping she'd get another perspective on the problem, but more and more she truly felt like she had no idea what was going on.

 _I want to go home._

But that had stopped being an option the moment dad died. She didn't have many options now. Waking up back in her prison of a body would do nothing but give the family more reasons to off her the first chance they got. She didn't even have the luxury of knowing who'd be the first to try.

The only choice she had now was keep going the way she'd started, and hope Sofia could find her enemy for her. Meanwhile, all she had other than Siren's borrowed body was a phone number, for advice. And an address, for comfort.

Looks like time for favors had come.

* * *

A/N: The interlude is over and all the players are in place. Get your seatbelts on, things are about to get wild.

On a less related note, kind people here informed me there's been a copy of my profile floating around that network. To keep things clear, this story is posted here and on ao3, nowhere else.

Situation is resolved now, so thanks everyone for letting me know.


	15. I have an idea

A/N: Butting in when you don't have to is the essence of being a hero. That statement holds true for Izuku a little more than most, and apparently, it's contagious.

* * *

In spite of how Reborn said they were going to get the ring back, it turned out he wasn't really keen on sharing the details. In fact, more and more, Izuku was starting to think Reborn had no plans of involving him at all. _He would've said something by now... maybe not something obvious, but he would've said don't do this, or go do that..._ But there was nothing.

Instead, Reborn criticized him for his terrible situational awareness. He'd suggested another round of training with Kacchan might be in order, but given Kacchan had been pretending he wasn't attending the same class as Izuku ever since the Battle Trial, Izuku was confident _that_ wasn't going to happen. Reborn didn't push it, but he also didn't tell Izuku the specifics of his plan, so Izuku counted that particular argument as a loss.

 _I wonder if he's really going to get All Might_ _involved_ _..._

That... wouldn't be fair. Then again, Reborn hadn't explicitly said it, but he'd implied it, and Izuku hoped it wasn't too optimistic to think All Might would get out of it with only a headache. Reborn tended to have that effect on most people.

Then he recalled Reborn's ominous statement that he'd bring in a pro, and forget the fact it was the middle of class, and Aizawa-sensei was talking about something, Izuku wanted to bang his head against his desk. Pro, coming out of Reborn's lips, could mean nothing short of a disaster. UA's had enough of those to last them the rest of the school year.

Aizawa-sensei began to talk about the Workplace Training, a form of one-week long internship, and Izuku tried to push Reborn and his evil plans out of his mind and focus on that for the moment. It was important, and Reborn wasn't above using his schoolwork as an excuse to avoid answering critical questions. Giving him fuel wouldn't help. _And I really want to learn something, too._

Aizawa-sensei wasn't too forthcoming with the details, though.

"Normally, we'd go through with workplace training after the sports festival, as the sports festival would serve to expose you to the pro hero offices around the country. You would pick any office you'd like, and spend the week working there. Obviously, situation this year is different, but that's not to say you won't get any relevant experience.

"At the moment, UA has forty pro hero agencies contracted. Each has a specialty and operates in a different region. Pick any office from the list and let me know by the end of the week. That's it. Midnight-sensei will take over from here."

As if on cue, Midnight sauntered into the office, ear-to-ear grin stretching on her face. "Well, class? Are you ready to pick your hero names? The name you choose now may end up being the one the world remembers you by, so choose wisely!"

 _We're... choosing names?_ Izuku stared. But given the lack of surprise from everyone else, that must've been the part of Aizawa's speech he'd missed. Crap. _I have no idea what name to pick! Moreover, any names I ever came up with were a homage to All Might and I can't possibly use that now. What do I_ do?

What could he do? He needed something good. He needed to think of something really good, but the only names that came to him were still homages to All Might, and now he wanted to bang his head against the table even more. And the more people walked out there and presented their clearly well-thought-out names with _meaning_ and _history,_ the more Izuku just sat there, completely clueless.

Then Iida stepped on the stage with just his name, and Izuku bowed his head in shame.

Across the room, Uraraka gave him a worried look, but Izuku didn't have anything better to offer either. What happened to Iida's brother was a shock, but Izuku thought... well, given Uraraka's reaction, he wasn't the only one, but he thought Iida would choose something like a homage too.

 _We should talk to him about this..._ News on the internet said so much. Iida himself said next to nothing. Izuku didn't know how to bring it up, let alone if it would help, nothing probably could... They had to at least try. And maybe Uraraka was also thinking the same thing, because once Iida returned back to his seat, she gave him a small, determined nod, and a tiny encouraging smile.

Coming up with a name after that had been surprisingly easy. It was a little embarrassing, but he's had it from the start. Meaning just changed over time. It would be a lie to say Uraraka's brilliant smile didn't help, though.

After class though, he realized he was going to have a lot more work than he'd expected. They had forty hero offices to choose from, and sure, Aizawa-sensei left the list, but Sero and Kaminari were quick to take it before anyone else could get a look, which didn't really mean too much, they'd all have to pick eventually, and given the limited number of places and less limited number of students, there was no doubt he'd end up with at least some of his classmates. Which was okay.

 _But I don't know the heroes. Who is available? Who isn't? I_ _gotta_ _see the list, divide them all by their specialties. Then I_ _gotta_ _take a look at how many incidents they resolve_ _d_ _per hour since the debut, determine which one of the offices would be most suitable and informative for me... I also need to check how they organize the downtime activities, see if they do anything else outside of hero work and make sure to align it with what would work best..._

"Uh," Uraraka said, "you really got that down to an art form, huh?"

"... did I just say that out loud?"

She nodded. AKA, social life disaster, accomplished.

He didn't know what sort of amazing thing he'd done in his past life to have Uraraka smile and brush it off, but he was grateful for it nonetheless.

"Anyway, Deku-kun... I was wondering, Iida-kun didn't say anything to you, did he? Cause the only thing he said to me is that he's fine and I don't really think that counts."

"He said the same to me." It wasn't much of a surprise to find that Iida already left the classroom. He'd gotten the second copy of the list, he must've already picked his office for the workplace week. An idea came to him then, and it was possibly a disastrous idea, but when he pitted common sense vs friend in need, the answer was obvious enough. "Uraraka-san, what do you think about this?"

And he proceeded to explain his silly, half-baked, possibly illogical scheme, hoping for some proper consideration and criticism.

He wasn't sure why he was so surprised to find Uraraka fervently nodding along before she'd even heard half of it.

"Let's do it."

There was probably no helping it afterwards.

* * *

By the time the list of hero offices got to Yaoyorozu, half of it was covered in writings, check marks and other assorted doodles. At least a third of the class had written their names next to the offices they chose, even if all they really needed to do was report it to Aizawa only. _At least the sharper part of the group realized it,_ she noted, from the lack of Iida, Asui, Midoriya, Bakugou and Todoroki's signatures. Then again, given how Todoroki was subtly eyeing the list in her hands, it was likely the other piece of paper never reached him.

 _What should I do?_

Her initial idea was to pick the highest-ranking office, but most of these offices were on the bottom half of the rankings, which was hardly a surprise. More established offices usually picked third-years, after all. Oki Mariner crew and Deatharm's offices were probably of the highest rank, but neither quite fit her style. The Union Affairs Office was famous, but the best team among them, the Pussycats only accepted the best of the best, and they were highly specialized in rescue operations. Assuming they approved of Momo, would specializing for rescues from the get-go be the best idea?

Momo liked to think it would, but the crushing defeat at the hands of those twins had given her much to think about. If she'd fought better, maybe they would've handled the situation at the sports festival differently. Maybe Midoriya wouldn't have lost something so precious.

 _Would it be disrespectful if I tried to make-up for its value?_

It was likely more emotional then financial, but she still thought at least a part of it was her fault.

She decided to give that idea more consideration later, and took a photo of the list, then passed the paper to Todoroki. It'd be better if she looked into the agencies she didn't recognize first, checked their specialization, and worked her way from there. Hand-to-hand combat would be a good place to start, or maybe something more urban.

Momo would've probably continued musing about that, if Midoriya and Uraraka didn't pop out in front of her, _out of nowhere_ _._ Twin expressions of pure determination engraved in their faces looked outright terrifying.

"Um... Midoriya-san, Uraraka-san... what in the world?"

"We need your opinion on something crucial, Yaoyorozu-san. You must criticize us without hesitation," Midoriya said, looking... very much unlike himself in sheer stiffness and tenacity. Uraraka was nodding along, equally eager.

Yaoyorozu blinked. "Ah, I suppose you may ask?"

Later on, Yaoyorozu would wonder why they'd picked her out of all people to ask such a question, but she was grateful nonetheless.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Yuni?" Reborn asked, holding the phone to his cheek while he typed at the laptop. Several camera feeds doted the screen, one of them not like the others. Yuni had left his apartment about half an hour ago, and now he was beginning to question whether she'd needed to do it.

"Yes, I'm sure," she huffed. "Besides, you said it yourself, Uncle, there is no better person than me to do this."

Reborn did, but he also didn't think she'd take his idea and fly with it. Then again, given her general disposition about all things Vongola related, he really should've seen it coming. "Fine," he said. "I'm following you via cameras the whole way through. If you need help at any moment, you know what to do."

As if on cue, an alarm started, and it took Reborn a second to realize where it was coming from.

"Uncle Reborn? What's the matter?"

"Looks like I have a visitor. I'll call you back."

"Take ca-!"

Reborn cut the call and lifted his gun just in time for his front door to open wide. He didn't move it an inch when he recognized the blonde pretty boy whose ass he'd kicked just a short few days ago, not even when the lockpicking tools hit the ground and hands went up in the air. One of them was still holding a phone, and Reborn recognized his apartment's location marked on the map.

"Don't shoot," Siren said. "I'm not who you think I am."

"That's not really giving me any incentive not to shoot."

"... fair. But can I at least close the door before you do? This face has been all over TV the last few days and it's really inconvenient."

Reborn wondered if he was crazy for agreeing with that. But then, it was Siren, and if what he had in mind was in anyway harmful, Reborn probably wouldn't have gotten a chance to grab his gun in the first place, special voice and all.

"Do it, but the gun stays."

Siren seemed to take that as quite a relieving circumstance, which was possibly the dumbest move he could've made. It was also the first sign something was wrong, because any CEDEF officer was smarter than to turn their back on a gun. Followed immediately by another, when Siren leaned against the door and just slumped down. "I _know_ this is going to sound crazy, but you have to hear me out," he said, sounding thoroughly exhausted. "I'm Ria."

 _What._

Siren looked at him like he knew exactly what Reborn was thinking, and it didn't compute. "No, seriously. It's crazy, I _know_ , but it's me. Ria. Same stupid brat you dubbed the Nineteenth without considering the consequences, and now they've come to bite you in the ass. Or something. God, I'm tired."

Slowly, Reborn lowered his gun. That... explained a lot, actually. "Body possession. Really?"

He shrugged.

"But _Siren_?"

"Not like I had many options."

"Figures. But what are you doing here?"

Siren looked at him, and dark bags under his eyes became thoroughly pronounced. "Mainly, I remembered this silly old talk we had about favors, and how I had no idea how to go about that... Yeah, apparently that didn't change. But if you want to be specific, I just want a place to sleep. Like, right now?"

Finally, Reborn began to relax. "Yeah, you're right. You really have no idea how to go about that. What makes you think I'd agree?"

Ria made a face. "To be fair, I wasn't really thinking too deep about this."

"I can see."

"Also, last time I saw you, you dropped Siren at my feet... You're not really the type to do that at random, so I figured we had at least one thing in common, looking out for the family and all."

It took a solid few seconds before the bits and pieces connected, and the story clicked. Still, his gun was back up in a fraction of a second, frown much deeper than before. "You were at the Sports Festival." Which didn't make sense, unless if he'd somehow made grave a miscalculation about Vongola's Nineteenth Boss, but he obviously didn't know enough, and that was becoming annoying. "Why?"

Ria, or Siren, or whomever, didn't even bother looking threatened. Eyes glinted with something akin to pain, but facial expression remained impassive. "Same reason as you, I'd say. Somebody wants Midoriya dead, enough to plaster my name on it. I want to know who."

Which, okay, made a lot more sense. It didn't really point him in any direction who might be trying to do it instead, but at least it helped to know that at least the actual boss of the Family had some common sense left. Which painted a sorry picture for the rest of the family, if Ria was the sanest of them all.

"You're really stupid, aren't you?" Reborn said. "If you're here, where is your body?"

Ria made a face which Reborn was pretty sure Siren never would. "Hospital, I think... Don't give me that look, there was nothing I could do and we both know it."

Reborn resisted the urge to rub the side of his head to fight an oncoming headache. He thought Izuku was the only one who could be so senselessly focused on one thing, but apparently not. "Can you control your body? Please don't tell me you just left it completely defenseless?"

"To an extent," she admitted grudgingly. "Let's face it, it's not like I'm any better off _in_ my body. This way at least I'm doing something."

"... that's true," Reborn agreed, and sat back down, returning to his laptop. "You can take the room on the left, Yuni's occupying the right side. I'm in the middle of something now, but once it's over, you and I need to have a long talk."

"I appreciate and agree with that." She picked herself up, not quite stable. "Before I go, can I ask you for another small favor?"

"Try." Reborn already had a feeling he was going to regret this.

Ria looked decidedly awkward, which only made him feel more confident about that. "Side effect of my Quirk, the bodies I take over tend to become... more like mine. I'll need a new one, before... you know."

Reborn hated being right.

"Is Siren gonna remember it?"

"... probably."

Which meant that Reborn didn't have one additional problem under his roof, he had _three_. Fantastic. Was it too much to hope for that Siren's loyalty to the Family was going to be enough to keep him from throttling Ria while he wasn't looking? Most likely. Then again, letting Siren strangle whatever new body she got probably wouldn't kill her, so at least it could be therapeutic. _I need a drink._

"Fine. Just go."

With a grateful hum, she did. Reborn picked his phone back to see a text from Yuni, a simple, _I'm in_. Sighing, Reborn turned back to the cameras. This was turning out to be a horrible day.

* * *

When All Might agreed with young Midoriya's tutor to assist in getting young Midoriya's ring back, babysitting wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

What he had in mind went more along the lines of shady criminal behavior, semi-legal espionage and violent conflict, so he couldn't exactly complain, but he was questioning the wisdom of sending a thirteen-year-old into a prison, to retrieve a mysterious object of power, because somehow-or-other she was the only one who could.

All Might wasn't sure which one of those three he had more problems with. If he didn't know any better, he'd think Yuni was Midoriya's younger sibling, which would make this that much more contrived. On the other hand, that same child walked into the prison like she owned it, assured him neither of them were in any sort of danger like she wasn't a child and he wasn't a hero, and did it all with a sunny smile that could quite possibly melt the Arctic.

It was perplexing.

The way she talked reminded him of his teacher, but Yuni didn't have a decades-long hero career behind her to make her this confident of anything. It made All Might feel small in comparison, while he could lift that kid off the ground with his pinky finger.

If Reborn hadn't gone into great detail about what might happen if the ring ends up in the wrong hands, All Might wouldn't have come at all. Best case scenario, someone with less compassion and moral fortitude than young Midoriya got access to immeasurable power. Worst case, a dead body. Those were, incidentally, the only possibilities.

All Might smiled and nodded at the guard who let them through, as he escorted Yuni through the building. Reborn said just being inside would be enough for her to find the ring, which made All Might wonder just how she was going to do that, but in the end the girl insisted he led her straight to the brain behind the attack on the Sports Festival. In spite of knowing better, All Might agreed. Which went to say just how terrifyingly charismatic the girl was.

Something the Villain for now only known as Kim was about to learn first-hand.

"Hello," Yuni said, light and formal, like she didn't just address a dangerous mafia operative.

Kim must've had some prior warning, because unlike All Might, he didn't take the smile at face value. Instead he tensed, scowled, and checked for the nearest way out. "... you... from the Giglio Nero...?"

"That's right." Yuni jovially sat down like a little ojou, fixing her skirt and sweater like she'd just joined a tea party. "I don't think we've met before, but I'm glad to see you know who I am. If you don't mind, there is a few things I would like to talk about."

For the first time, Villain Kim appeared to register All Might's presence in the room, but didn't remark. All Might couldn't blame him, what with his profession being widely familiar, and any wrong word might cost Kim his freedom – since he was pledging silence and all.

However, any hesitance to speak that might've existed on his part, dissipated once he faced the little miss sunshine again, which only went to show who was the scarier person in the room.

Clearing his throat, the man inclined his head. "I'm... honored, that you would come see me in person. But whatever you might want to know, there is not much I can say to help you."

"Actually, I'm here to deliver a message. Uncle Colonnello is quite impressed with how you conducted yourself here," Yuni said, which... had more effect than anything else she'd done so far.

All Might wasn't the best at picking up subtle body language, but there was nothing subtle about it now. Kim tensed, and he gulped, and looked overall like somebody had just announced his public failure in front of everybody. Or just somebody particularly important.

"Unfortunately, it appears there has been a misunderstanding," Yuni continued, and Kim's face lost more color. "I'm not sure how much uncle Colonnello himself is aware of, and I certainly can't claim that I know anything at all. As such, it may not be my place to say it, but as a longtime friend and companion of the Family, I will do so nonetheless. You are, and always will remain, Cloud Guardian of the Vongola. It is not a duty simply passed on a whim, it is a lifetime commitment. I know the waters may appear muddled, but you know in your heart where your loyalties lie. Don't let fears that were never yours sway you."

For all the sympathy and compassion in that speech, not even All Might was blinded enough not to hear the underlying – well, it wasn't a threat, exactly. If anything, what Yuni was doing appeared more like light scolding, masked by kind advice. What it truly was, it was the true authority putting somebody else back in their place – and judging by the effect it had, Kim recognized it as such.

But then the mafioso opened his mouth, and All Might realized he might've rushed with judgement a little bit.

"They say you lost it, after..." but he didn't finish. Instead his shoulders slumped and his head fell. "I did something stupid, didn't I? Or, I _will_..."

"Nothing that can't be fixed," Yuni assured him gently. "But to avoid any more complications, it would be best if you told me where I can find the Sky Ring. I know it's not here."

"I'm sorry." Kim looked sincerely apologetic. "Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to answer that."

"Oh." Yuni's lips curved downwards, and both All Might and Kim felt much more devastated than they had any right to be. It was the aura, it had to be. That sort of a crushing feeling when you knew you were staring abyss in the eye, and it stared back, disappointed that you'd fall so low. Like that feeling of utter shame when you'd disappointed your kind grandmother, and you knew there was little you could do to fix it. "I don't suppose Twins could assist me, in that case?"

Kim shook his head. "They hooked it to one of the drones we brought," he said. "Bruno pre-programmed it with a set of coordinates, since we knew most of us were going to get caught."

 _I_ _see... that explains it._ Tsukauchi had confirmed they'd never found it on the villains they'd arrested, but given their abilities it wasn't impossible they might've hidden it or left it with someone else.

"Sneaky," Yuni murmured to herself. "So, you know as well. There is a traitor in the family."

Kim must've been recovering faster than All Might, because when he looked up, along with desperation there was a spark of what looked most like defiance.

Yuni faced that with an understanding nod and a soft, respectful bow.

"Thank you, Agent Kim. I appreciate everything you've told me." She smiled then, and the heavy air in the room instantly lifted.

"You..." Kim choked, a final attempt at speech before she left the room. "Do you support Midoriya as well? Like Reborn?"

"I support Midoriya Izuku as the rightful bearer of the ring, yes," Yuni said. "But what in the world makes you think I support him as the Vongola's next Boss?"

With that, she left, leaving two grown men too bewildered the pick up the pieces of the reality she'd just shattered.

For All Might, it might've been comparable to losing the footing from under him. He'd known young Midoriya's relationship with the mafia was complicated at best, but that he was in the running to become a criminal overlord? Both USJ and Sports Festival were starting to make a lot more sense. _I_ _might've been taking this too lightly._

But for Kim, it must've been worse. He sank into the chair, something between lost and angry and confused.

Whatever he might've wanted to say, Yuni didn't intend to listen, and much of All Might's choice had been taken from his hands. He found himself following her, only mildly paying attention to the crease born of worry settling on her brow.

Once they were outside, she dialed presumably Reborn, a tinge of frustration to her voice. "Sorry, Uncle. Looks like this didn't go according to plan... ah, a guest? I see. I'll be sure to bring dinner, then."

That over and done with, she turned back to All Might with a sunny smile that didn't quite belong in this world. "Thank you very much, Yagi-san. Let's go."

"Ah, yeah..."

So taken aback, All Might never noticed she'd used his real name.

* * *

"What... are you all doing here?"

Iida didn't know. Iida didn't understand. When he'd picked his hero office, he'd done it with a particular goal in mind. Perhaps it wasn't the most heroic or morally sound goal, but as a brother he had a duty, a responsibility.

It never crossed his mind he might have company.

"We, um... we were worried? Lots of things happened, and you kept acting like everything was okay in class, and maybe it wasn't, but you wouldn't really say anything, so..." Midoriya and Uraraka shyly looked anywhere but at Iida directly. Maybe, if some part of Iida's brain had taken the time to consider things from their perspective, he might've come up with a reasonable explanation for why that non-answer made sense.

However, that didn't explain anyone else.

Hand on her face, Yaoyorozu looked vaguely apologetic. "Well, to be honest, Midoriya-san and Uraraka-san came to me for an opinion... and at first, I wasn't going to. But then I realized I didn't really have any better ideas where to go..."

That... had to be a lie. There were so many other, _better_ hero agencies than this. For the smartest person in their year, she could've gone _anywhere._ So why here? Iida didn't understand. Maybe he could accept it, had no choice but to accept it, but he would never fully understand it.

Then his eyes landed on the final offender, the only one he could neither understand nor accept. For the son of the second-ranked hero himself, he had no business being here, none whatsoever. Maybe Iida would be able to accept it, a big _maybe_ , if he hadn't already heard from Jirou he'd been intending on going somewhere else. Where, he didn't remember, but it was certainly not supposed to be here.

Todoroki stoically looked towards the office building, like the discussion truly didn't interest him. "It's got nothing to do with you."

And that made Iida all the more upset.

But Iida's upset was nothing like pro hero Manual's upset, when the hero in question realized he had not one UA student waiting at his doorstep, but _five_.

It was going to be an interesting week.


	16. Negotiation

A/N: The heirs meet. Things are less chaotic than they should be.

* * *

 _A day ago_

Izuku didn't speak Italian. Izuku also didn't know, nor had any interest in meeting the villains who'd helped make the sports festival into what it turned out to be. Which was why Reborn insisting he do precisely that made no sense whatsoever.

Reborn wasn't really the type to ask, though. Actually, Reborn was the type to wake-him up by a well-aimed kick into solar plexus that would throw Izuku right out of his bed while his tutor started listing of chores and things he planned to do for the day.

Usually, it started with a five-kilometer jog, lifting weights and warm-up, before ending with proper training. They'd thrown in a variation on that when Yuni offered assistance, in the form of basic gymnastics and agility training.

Therefore, "Be at my place before you go to Hosu," wasn't what Izuku expected to be the topic of the conversation.

Then again, it wasn't. Reborn woke him up, gave his order and then disappeared off to wherever he usually went at five in the morning. A couple hours later, Izuku found himself trotting into Reborn's conveniently located apartment, fighting yawns. The moment he stepped inside, two familiar faces greeted him.

"Good morning, Izuku!"

Yuni's beaming face was a stark contrast to the guy sitting opposite her. Foreigner, blonde and clearly wishing he could be anywhere else, it took seconds before Izuku connected his face to the one that doted the TV screens over the past days.

"Why is one of the escaped villains from the Sports Festival here?" Izuku found himself blurting out before he could think better of it.

It earned him a twitch from the villain in question, and a small sigh from Yuni.

Directing him towards an empty chair, she smiled. "I know you have plenty of reasons to be wary, but Siren isn't a bad person. His circumstances are just a little unusual."

"Sure, if you mean being mind-raped, kidnapped and forced into criminal activities of the worst order, then sure my circumstances are _unusual_ ," the villain shot back.

Izuku blanched. " _What?_ "

Yuni shook her head. "Let's be fair, Siren-kun, you were doing much the same during the festival. Things turned out this way because Ria didn't want you arrested with the rest of your friends. The very least you can do is apologize to Izuku here."

Siren glanced at Izuku, scowled, then turned his head away. In body language, Izuku interpreted it as a milder version of Kacchan's "Fuck no." Yuni seemed awfully accepting of the fact this wasn't going to be that easy.

Izuku decided he wanted to get to the bottom of this before things got weirder. "Um, Yuni... what is going on? Where is Reborn? Why am I here?"

"I wanted to introduce you to somebody," Reborn said from behind and Izuku turned so fast he almost lost his balance. Reborn walked past him, occupying the chair that had several large books stacked upon it. "Come on in, don't be shy."

Izuku didn't need that indication from Reborn to know that she was the harbinger of utter chaos, but he got it anyway.

A girl did. She lingered in a hall for fraction of a second, before taking a decisive step forward. Tall, slim and pale, she looked more like a mannequin than a human, the only things bringing in color to her features the expressively bright eyes and the crimson bob haircut.

She stared him down with a shimmering intensity, a sort of fire burning underneath the calm facade, a bubble of stirring emotions Izuku couldn't identify. Then she bowed, in what was a clear imitation of a Japanese custom that didn't come naturally, an accented word slipping past her tongue.

"I'm sorry."

Izuku stared. First at her, then at Reborn.

"This is Martillo Ria, Nineteenth Boss of the Vongola family," he said. "She's been undergoing an intensive Japanese course over the past weeks. I can't promise she'll understand everything you may want to say, but Yuni is here to provide assistance if needed."

Izuku was still busy picking his jaw off the floor while the girl straightened and took up the free chair next to Siren. Who, an idle part of Izuku's mind noted, tried his utmost to pretend she hadn't entered the room.

"... I don't... I don't understand," Izuku managed. "Why? Why _now_?"

It wasn't what he wanted to ask. To be fair, he wasn't sure what he wanted to ask. Ever since that first assassin had appeared on his doorstep, he'd been convinced the boss of the Vongola was somebody older and nastier, somebody who was fine with ordering attack on schoolkids just to grasp a bit more power. Definitely not a girl barely a few years older than him.

He'd wondered why they'd want the ring so badly? Reborn said tradition, but he always thought there'd been something more to it. When he'd lost the ring, he'd thought, _maybe this is the time when I find out_. He'd wondered what it would take for that family to leave him alone. But he couldn't ask the first one, and he already had the answer to the second one.

Izuku didn't know if she'd understood a word of what he'd said, but if anything, she looked about as uncomfortable as he felt.

"She said she wanted to meet you," Reborn said, as if that explained it all. "You two have more things in common than you think."

"No, we don't," Izuku said, and found himself believing it wholeheartedly.

Reborn shrugged. "Take a seat, Izuku, so we can start this negotiation."

Izuku did, more lost than ever. "... negotiation? But there's nothing to negotiate? She has the ring... and I just want the Vongola to leave me alone..." He noticed the distinct lack of accessories anywhere on her, and wondered if maybe he got that part wrong. She was still staring at him, but he recognized it as curiosity now, rather than animosity.

"Actually, issue of the ring is... a little complicated," Yuni said. "Ria doesn't have it, neither does anyone else at this moment. Depending on this negotiation, we will decide who should retrieve it. And how."

"Oh." Okay, that made sense. But then, it didn't. If Ria didn't have it, who did? How were they planning on retrieving it? Why did it all look like it was depending on _him_?

"Note that you don't have much ground to stand on, Izuku," Reborn said, and Izuku didn't know if that made him feel any better. "Ria's word is final on this, so do your best not to piss her off."

And that, more than anything else, cemented that Izuku was going to do the exact thing Reborn told him not to. Or maybe not, given the barely noticeable amusement on the mafia boss' face.

"It's okay, nobody here cares about stiffness and formality," Yuni said gently. "In fact, Ria's proposition is not a bad one, so please consider it carefully."

Izuku still had some trouble coming to terms with the fact anybody here was actually expecting him to negotiate anything, but he didn't really have any better ideas himself. Turning to the boss, he nodded awkwardly and tried to handle this with as much dignity as possible. "What is the proposition?"

Yuni cleared her throat. "Very well. You are to renounce all your rights as a potential candidate to inherit the Vongola Mafia Family. In other words, you may still retain your right as a family member, albeit one who can become boss under no circumstances. That would also absolve you of the right to possess and use the Vongola Sky ring." She paused, giving a moment for her words to sink in. "Nineteenth is willing to overlook this, however."

Izuku gulped, eyes flying from Yuni to Ria and back. "What do you mean? So, I'd get to keep the ring? But I thought-"

"As I'm sure you know, the ring is currently a matter of division inside the family," Yuni informed him sadly. "It's... inconvenient. Nineteenth believes you've proven yourself worthy of the ring, is willing to entrust it to you for a price."

That sounded ominous. Izuku glanced at Reborn, but his tutor looked like the end result of the discussion interested him less than what he'd have for lunch.

"What sort of a price?" he asked.

Yuni smiled. "Assistance."

"... you want me to join the mafia?" He shot a bewildered look towards the boss. She stared at him, with a sort of self-satisfied smugness he'd only ever attribute to Kacchan.

"Not quite," Yuni said, but it sounded like she was having a hard time staying serious. "Nineteenth would like it if she could request assistance from you when needed, and in return promises not to ask for anything that might go against your morals and ethics. Think of it as extending a friendship hand. If you need help, you may rely on the Vongola Family. In return, they wish for the same."

"That... simple?" Izuku didn't know what he'd been expecting. It wasn't this. "But what about the Sports Festival? And USJ? And-"

"It's being resolved at present," Yuni said. "Both those events were a result of an operation that was never sanctioned or permitted. Whoever is standing behind it is still at large, but all the efforts are currently directed towards identifying the individual. I hope this helps you understand that the Vongola Family as a whole wishes you no harm."

Izuku didn't know how much of what was said he could believe. It was Yuni and Reborn, on one hand. On the other, what worried him more was the part that went unsaid. If the family as a whole didn't wish him harm, then who did? Was it going to happen again? People went after his classmates, but at least with the teachers and pro heroes everywhere, they could defend themselves. What if somebody went after his mom?

Izuku looked to the boss then, and tried to remember everything Reborn ever told him about Hyper intuition. It didn't help. He should've expected it, really. Fighting without the ring made him practically ten times weaker, he should've known same would account for the non-combat abilities that came with it.

 _She didn't have to come all the way here for a talk. Or apologize._

Maybe that was the biggest factor why he found himself nodding.

That, and the fact Reborn had practically goaded him into it. Izuku knew he was supposed to think of this on his own, and Reborn was just as likely to throw him into the lion pit for his own amusement, but Izuku liked to think he understood his tutor a little better than his tutor realized. If he was proposing this, approving of it, even, then the deal probably wasn't so bad. Maybe.

"I... really want to be a hero," he said. "I don't want to find myself in a situation where I have to do something that would go against that. If you understand that, then, I'm willing to help you. Any way I can."

Izuku sagged back, a little more relaxed now when those words were out in the open. Whatever retribution he might've been afraid of, he got none.

Reborn and Yuni shared a knowing smile, and the Nineteenth herself appeared more relieved than she had any right being. It seemed the only person not accepting of the result seemed to be Siren, but then, he looked like he wasn't sure whose presence bothered him more, Izuku's or Nineteenth's.

"Then, I believe this matter to be solved," Yuni said, and proceeded to address the boss in a flurry of foreign words Izuku only vaguely recognized as Italian.

Izuku turned to Reborn. "So... what's going to happen now? About the ring, I mean?"

"We retrieve it." His tutor glanced towards Siren. "You know the conditions. I expect your full cooperation with this."

Siren scowled back. "I wouldn't be wasting my time here if I didn't know that. It doesn't mean I _approve_."

Reborn shrugged. "You had enough time to change her mind, but you spent it sulking instead. And Izuku?"

"Eh?"

"If you don't leave now, you'll be late for your train to Hosu."

"EH?!" Izuku glanced at his phone, but yep, the watch was right there. "Oh, _crap_! I'm so sorry, I have to go!"

"Oh, Izuku?"

One foot already out the door, Izuku turned. "Yeah?"

"You've handled yourself admirably so far. This work week is important, so don't let the idle thoughts and things beyond your control sway you. Strive to do better instead."

Throat suddenly dry, Izuku nodded. Just when he thought there was nothing more Reborn could do to encourage him, his tutor went and proved him wrong, again. "I will," he choked. "I'm going." Then he was running, the costume suitcase in hand. He was _not_ going to be late.

* * *

Doors closed behind Ria and Siren, and Yuni sank into the couch, exhausted. "For people who are so similar and want the same thing, they really don't get along."

Such an odd pair, Siren and Ria were. Similar powers, similar beliefs, similar goals. Together, they would be unstoppable. And yet they couldn't look at each other without anger and hate flaring. Two sides of a same coin, and both stubborn to boot. When she took Siren's body, Ria must've known she'd lose his trust permanently, yet she'd done it all the same.

"Either I saved him, or I didn't," she'd said when Yuni found enough audacity to ask. She never thought Siren's life was in danger, so it took time for Yuni to understand she'd been talking about his reputation. CEDEF operated in secret, normally, as intelligence agencies ought to. Yet Kim took his team on a high-risk, low-reward operation which, successful or not, would ultimately make them failures of intelligence agents.

If Siren had been caught with the rest of them, they would've broken out much faster. Festival crashers would turn into fugitives, which not only would make them incompetent intelligence, it would make them internationally famous. They would never be able to return to CEDEF.

 _But they could go back to the Family. They always could._

Perhaps that was the plan all along.

Ria foiled it, however, intentionally or not. And now Siren refused to speak more than a word at her at a time, usually filled with rage.

"Do you really think they can't fix it?" Yuni asked uncle, thoughtful. Interpersonal relations were such a complicated thing.

"Beats me."

Reborn didn't look up from the many papers he'd spread everywhere, and then he pulled one out. Yuni recognized the face on it, the costume and the flaming beard. She wasn't surprised to see Reborn take an old photograph of the drawers next.

"Is it really the best idea to go after the drawers now, uncle?" she asked.

"You said I'd need them."

Which was fair, because Yuni did. But also, not the point. "Why now?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

Yuni expected him to leave things at that, but then he frowned, dark and worried. "I don't like this, Yuni. Everything Ria said... CEDEF acting out of character. Even those goddamn Vindice showing up after all this time..." He pushed the papers aside and sighed. "Izuku saw Bartolo Incarceration play out before his eyes, a part of it anyway. Do you remember what the actual event led to?"

Yuni blinked. "... Tsuna-san's wedding?"

"Leave it to you to remember that part. After, I'm talking about _after_."

But Yuni didn't remember much else about that time. Tsuna's wedding, for such a small and private affair - as small as any Vongola event can possibly be - had been quite a celebration. There'd been fireworks, cake, and a good number of violent confrontations throughout, and no event since had been able to compare. The Vongola took the world by storm once again, and Yuni loved every moment of it, in spite of the consequences.

Bartolo Incarceration had been quite the same. _Wait a second_.

"Quirks." Yuni found herself sitting up, back straight and alert. "The Bartolo Group was the first time we learned Quirks existed. How they could be used." She turned to Reborn, heart threatening to beat out of her chest. "You don't think something like that will happen now? But there would be hints, the little clues, the..." Yuni didn't know. Perhaps worse, she didn't know where to start looking. What use were her predictive abilities when she'd never seen the Quirk Revolution coming?

"All I'm saying is, the last time, nothing seemed connected, either."

Hand rising to her chest, Yuni slowly began to relax. "That... that's why you want the drawers now. Tsuna-san's journals... the little things, the clues we missed..."

"Well, that, and other reasons too. If there are any records of Tsuna's daughters left, they'll be there."

"Oh." Yuni sagged back. "That's right, you hid them, but Tsuna-san did the papers." She nodded sharply, more to herself. "Okay. Then, do you want me to call someone? Fon-san? Or maybe Colonnello-san? I'll retrieve the drawers and if we all work together, maybe we can—"

"No," Reborn said.

Yuni liked to think that, over time, they'd all gotten over their differences, but things were never that simple. "Colonnello-san should know," she said. "I understand why you may not want the others involved, but his ties to CEDEF remain. He might be able to help."

Reborn looked at her, and it spelled betrayal. "You're the boss."

Yuni tried to celebrate the small victory, as rare as it was. Reborn promised not to make it easy.

* * *

 _Internships, Day 1_

Manual was slightly below average, slightly above incompetent. He wasn't a famous hero, or popular, or well-known even. When the odd circumstances at UA resulted in him receiving his first intern in forever, he was happy, and a little proud. That contract had been collecting dust for years, and no matter how much he'd applied for interns before, so did other, _better_ heroes.

Sure, it was Ingenium's little brother so it was pretty obvious in which direction that was going, but a part of Manual was still as giddy as a little kid with a new toy on the inside.

When another four UA students showed up, however, he was beginning to think his initial cheer might've been premature.

Glancing to his sidekick, he gulped. "... are you _sure_ this isn't some kind of mistake?"

Aki gave him that look she usually did whenever he asked a dumb question. "They're on the list."

"But... but..." A hand rising in the air drew his attention away from what had almost become yet another dumb question. "Yes, um...?" Crap, he needed to check their names. "You want to say something?"

"Midoriya Izuku," the boy provided his name helpfully, and Manual breathed a sigh of relief. "It's a personal question, but... Are you perhaps related to Buster hero, Air Jet?"

Manual... paused. Something must've been wrong with his face, though, because Midoriya paled, looked away, and started flailing his hands around, while the rest of the kids stared.

"I'm sorry. I mean, it's not mentioned anywhere, but when I was doing research about this agency, I saw it was actually a really old one and the structure was really complicated... and then I saw that Air Jet started here too and I remembered one of those old interviews where he said he started at a family agency and... I'm rambling again...I'm sorry."

Lack of any other surprised faces was sure sign he did that a lot. Manual gulped. "I... suppose?"

Yeah, that was dumb. The day he was supposed to be at his best was turning into a day when he was actually the most hopeless idiot hero the country's ever seen. But to be fair, no one's actually gone and asked him that. In fact, Manual was pretty sure nobody ever made the connection, cause Air Jet remained hired at the agency for all of two weeks.

 _Someone knows their trivia._ And then, _this could actually be kinda fun._

He needed a whole attitude rehash though. Working with students was tough.

Squaring his shoulders, Manual grinned. "Sorry, I got a little taken aback there. That's not exactly a wide-spread detail. Did you know he was also afraid of heights at that time?"

Midoriya was practically beaming. Girls in the group looked torn on whether they should be amused by that or not. Aki snapped a photo, no doubt to send it directly to his estranged cousin with a note that Manual was dissing him again. Ah well, all in good spirits.

Manual cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I'm sure you already know, but Hosu city has a pretty high percentage of street crime and villains mingling around. I'm not going to spare you the hard work. Get into your costumes, and we'll be out to patrol. Aki, run them down with the policies please."

"Aye, sir!" Five of them chorused, some more enthusiastic than others.

* * *

"Heroes aren't meant to dish out punishment," Manual said, as he led three students around the streets. "We're not allowed to make arrests or act on our own personal grudges, no matter what sort of heinous crimes a villain might've committed. You'll learn more about Quirk Regulation Act in school, but basics boil down to this. Heroes can use Quirks to resolve crimes. They're the only ones who can, not even the police force has this right.

"There is a number of clauses and addendums that make it clear just how and in which situations civilians are allowed to use Quirks, but other than small, everyday things and self-defense, everything else is treated as a crime. At the moment, it's the same for all of you. Until you're granted your provisional license, you can only act under strict supervision and special permissions, which draw certain responsibilities and consequences as well."

Izuku found himself taking all that in like a sponge, but he was the only one. Iida looked a little lost in a world of his own – attentive, but more mindful of other things. Uraraka was listening with half an ear, still busy gawking over Izuku's costume. The real, Leon-made costume.

It was getting kind of embarrassing, actually. Uraraka had burst out laughing several times, or would've, if she hadn't covered her mouth so Manual wouldn't hear it. Leon had really tried his best, though.

Actually, Leon had done better than best. Izuku didn't know _how_ , but the chameleon not only created a set of fingerless gloves with soft metal plating that felt much more fitting than the ones he'd used before, he'd also created actual _shoes_. Shoes, which were almost exactly the same as his favorite pair, except they could harness the Dying Will flames and made flying easier. With the ring, anyway. Without it, Izuku was pretty sure he wasn't going to be flying anytime soon. Anyway, the rest of the costume couldn't exactly harness the flames, but the design fit a little too well. Green in color, it had drawn some inspiration from mom's original, but the material was different, and the knee and elbow guards that much better.

Leon had even found time for an All Might hoodie, and Izuku almost cried when he saw it. Uraraka wouldn't stop laughing about it.

"I thought police were allowed to use their Quirks," Izuku said, deciding to worry about that over Uraraka's amusement for the next two minutes. "I mean, there was a number of incidents resolved by the police force before Hero initiative started and lots of them used their Quirks to help? Did that change?"

"Not really," Manual said, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Actually, that's always been a bit of a gray area. There are rules in place, but police can generally get away with most Quirk usage under the right circumstances, after Heroes and athletes. Their punishment is much harsher if they use it outside the dire circumstances. Some rules are still very outdated though."

Izuku nodded. He really should've brought his notebook for this. He had the Quirk Analysis with him, but after he'd started researching the Vongola, he'd completely forgotten about all the other ones that had anything hero-related material inside. He'd checked a few of them for some Hero Informatics tests, but not more than that.

Both Uraraka and Iida remained oddly quiet.

"How do you think Yaoyorozu-san and Todoroki-san are doing?" he asked them. He was pretty sure himself that Yaoyorozu would figure it out no matter who she was paired up with, but Todoroki had been kind of in a bad mood. Maybe even worse than Iida. Izuku wondered if he was the only one who saw it.

Uraraka grinned. "If they don't catch a Villain, I'll be really surprised."

Iida nodded, although halfheartedly. "It'd be better if they don't get in any trouble, though."

Izuku tried to put trouble, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki in the same sentence. It didn't work. He just hoped he didn't jinx them.

* * *

Actually, Izuku did. Just not the way he thought.

Aki was a sidekick, probably stuck as one of those eternal sidekicks. After Manual decided to split them up to cover more ground, she'd been happy to agree. Todoroki should've known something was off right there.

Aki dragged them to the top of a nearby skyscraper, watched the streets from above, then grinned at them. "Manual already covered why patrolling is important and all. My self-appointed teaching style is a little different. We're still patrolling, of course, the approach is just a little different. So, who wants to go first?"

Todoroki glanced at Yaoyorozu, and found himself a little glad to see that she was equally clueless on what the pro was talking about.

She was, also, a whole lot more accustomed than he was to all this, so she raised her hand and asked, "Um, excuse me, but we're on a rooftop. Where exactly are we supposed to go?"

"Right there."

Yaoyorozu hesitated. Todoroki just stared. That couldn't be right. She was pointing to the building right across the street.

"You're not supposed to use your quirks," Aki continued. "Not even Manual would let me get away with it if I let you do that."

"But... then how?"

Aki winked. "That's for you to figure out. I'm waiting for you there. Try not to use the elevators or the stairs – it's an okay solution, but it's just no fun. I promise to catch you if it looks like you'll fall."

Then she was gone, bouncing off of concrete like it was springing board, and landing neatly on the nearby skyscraper. She waved at them.

Todoroki and Yaoyorozu shared a look. "Any ideas?" he asked.

Yaoyorozu shook her head. Then she froze, eyes on something behind Todoroki. He turned as well, a little surprised to find construction equipment there.

They shared a look again. Now they had ideas after all.

* * *

A/N: Not proofread chapter. Sorry. Hopefully not too many glaring mistakes.

Longer wait than usual is college exams getting in the way, sort of. Also a bit of a bump on the road in regards to the story, but it's been fixed...

Honestly, until writing this, it never occurred to me how much potential problems Quirk Registration Acts could cause. Let's just say I'll be playing with this a lot in the coming chapters.


	17. One-sided Rival

A/N: Todoroki. Midoriya. Copyright infringement...?

* * *

It was stupid. It wasn't supposed to bother him. Todoroki found a lot of things bothering him, lately, anyway.

Villains disrupting school activities. His old man receiving credit for catching some of those villains. Midoriya Izuku in his entirety.

It started back during first day of school, and it only picked up since.

Todoroki was averse to fire quirks on a good day, and having a classmate who reveled in it was irksome at best and mildly infuriating at worst. It wasn't really Midoriya's fault. In fact, he tried hard to go out of his way _not_ to talk about his Quirk, which Todoroki only realized after Midoriya brushed off questions about it with the subtlety of an obnoxious five-year-old. Still, it wasn't big or important enough for Todoroki to get worked up about it. Even if it was a little annoying.

It reached peak annoyance levels and launched into silent rage mode when it turned out Midoriya was also capable of freezing whole lakes.

A simple flame quirk had gone from, well, _that_ , to what seemed to be a copy of Todoroki's Quirk in all but name, and that was infuriating, for reasons that baffled Todoroki Shouto himself. Ashido had gone on, quite insensitively, comparing their quirks in class, in front of everybody, and everybody had a great time dissecting what was it that made Todoroki's Quirk different from Midoriya's.

The similarities. The differences. And the sheer amount of relish Midoriya used it with.

Todoroki didn't understand it, didn't _want_ to understand it, and wanted Midoriya to stay the hell away from him with that attitude, before Todoroki did something he'd sorely regret.

Except it was too late for that, because he'd applied for the same agency as Midoriya and the rest of his clique.

Todoroki couldn't believe he was now beginning to think of them as a _clique_. Iida and Uraraka were a given, naturally. But he thought Yaoyorozu to be above that. Whatever happened at USJ and during the joke that was the sports festival, apparently served to prove she wasn't.

What lead him to this place, he had no idea. He'd had a few other ideas where he could go, but then the clique just had to make plans in front of him... and he'd changed his mind in the last second, because... why? Again, why?

Midoriya was annoying, but not insufferable. Not _intentionally_. So that either meant Todoroki accepted this whole thing as a one-sided problem he ought to deal with on his own, or... what?

Todoroki couldn't believe he was letting this bother him. It was _dumb_. He felt like he was projecting his issues onto other people and that was not okay, especially since none of it directly concerned Midoriya. He was just... there. He was doing things he wanted to do, as any normal person would. Todoroki had to accept that.

Yeah, right. If it were that simple, Todoroki wouldn't be fighting that irresistible urge to punch him in his perfect teeth. He wouldn't even be _here_.

Problem was, he was here. That meant, for his own sanity, it'd be better if he continued on with the idea that put him there, consequences be damned.

Even if that meant getting humiliated by a frigging sidekick in the meantime.

Next to him, Yaoyorozu wasn't faring much better.

Sidekick Aki tasked them with jumping from one building to another, which was crazy enough. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki had cooked up a plan of sorts, using available construction equipment to make a bridge... and cheat, sort of. Use their quirks without being noticed, that sort of thing. They thought this was about ingenuity... and they'd ended up tumbling down from thirty floors up, the only reason they weren't splatters on the ground now because the sidekick with elastic hands caught them at the last second.

Todoroki wasn't sure who was more traumatized, Yaoyorozu or Aki the Sidekick.

"I thought you saw it, I was definitely sure you saw it," Aki was saying, referring to a particular part of the building she simply called the trampoline. Small, circular part of the roof, a "marvel of architecture", intended to serve a purpose of raising hero mobility in the air and between the skyscrapers, since not all heroes could cross kilometers in a single leap like All Might.

"It's really useful in urban areas with lots of buildings... but man, I didn't think you'd come up with something so _crazy_. We're in so much trouble once Manual hears about this."

Todoroki noticed she neglected to mention it was in testing stages, which probably meant it wasn't even close to being approved. He resolved not to care about it. When they regrouped with everyone later, and he learned Midoriya's group did just a regular patrol, he was back to being bothered by everything, even the air Midoriya was breathing.

It was annoying. Maybe he should just throw that punch and leave it at that. Alternatives were proving more bothersome than they had any right being.

Manual chewed Aki out for the skyscrapers patrolling, of course. As a sane and responsible adult, he was clueless on how to approach the sheer insanity of what Todoroki and Yaoyorozu had attempted to do, however. He'd settled it with, "don't listen to Aki, and please, _please_ don't do that again", and Todoroki and Yaoyorozu had been all too happy to comply.

That happiness didn't last, when Manual directed them to the room they'd be using during their stay.

"I'm really sorry about this. We tried to book a local hotel but it didn't work out. Um, we'll have another room free in a few days, so it'll be more comfortable that way, but until then you'll just have to bunk together... "

One room, two bunk beds and an improvised futon. All that, for the five of them.

Yaoyorozu was mortified. Iida even more so. It was the first sign their class president wasn't eternally lost to sulky moodiness. Uraraka celebrated, and decided to treat the whole thing like a prepubescent pajama party. Todoroki found himself awkwardly moving to the side, an exact mirror of Midoriya, which was infuriating as well. This had to _stop_.

Shortly after dinner, Todoroki cornered the bane of his sanity with a nasty glare and decided to get this out of his system.

"Can I talk to you, Midoriya?"

Except, now that he had his classmate's full attention, he didn't exactly have any idea _how_.

Couple minutes later found them in an empty agency hall, each leaning on the opposite wall while seconds ticked by. Midoriya fumbled around, hand reaching for something that wasn't at his chest; muscle memory, which he recognized a moment later and quickly pretended didn't happen. "Um, what did you want to talk about, again?"

"You're annoying," Todoroki said.

"... I am?"

"You're a nuisance. A reminder."

"... reminder?" Midoriya was looking more clueless by the second. "What are you talking about?"

Todoroki wondered if maybe he was going crazy, talking about this with a classmate. But then, did it matter? Midoriya at least had the right to know why Todoroki couldn't stand his guts.

"Quirk marriages... have you heard of them?" he asked, tonelessly. Midoriya's instant alarm came like encouragement. They really were too much alike, yet, not similar at all. "My father decided on that. Forced my mother into that sort of a marriage. All because he couldn't be better than All Might. Raising me to do it instead." Wave of anger washed over him, cold and reshaped into a purpose over the years of abuse.

"I have no intention of being a tool for that bastard," Todoroki informed him. "I resolved to be the best without ever using his Quirk, without ever using that unsightly left side. I hope you understand why that also means I resolved to do better than you at all times. Why I'm not here to make friends. That's... all I wanted to say. Sorry for taking your time."

Satisfied with the result, Todoroki went on with his business. Urge to punch, gone. He should've probably done this earlier.

Behind him, Midoriya gawked.

* * *

Second day of internships started off tough, and Uraraka had a feeling it was going to stay that way.

"What is up with them?" she asked, fighting yawns.

Next to her, Yaoyorozu looked equally lost. " _Boys_."

Meanwhile, Deku, Todoroki and Iida were choking on food, competing who'd finish their breakfast first. Uraraka wasn't sure how that happened, but it probably had something to do with Manual asking for help with some hero work from whoever was done first. So, they wolfed down the miso soup, fried pork and rice like they'd never had breakfast before, occasionally staring each other down. It was silly, because Yaoyorozu had woken up earlier, finished her breakfast and even found the time to make tea for everyone. All that, before the boys changed out of their pajamas.

Uraraka wasn't sure how to tell them that in a way that wouldn't make things worse, so she let them compete to their heart's content. Bakugou wasn't here, so at least there wouldn't be explosions involved.

She was still nursing her tea when they finished, cleaned their plates and rushed to the mission, all at the same time. Moments later, Iida's cry rang throughout the building. "Amazing, Yaoyorozu... to have finished her breakfast and we never even noticed... I am a failure of a hero class student."

"Ah, Iida-kun is back to being energetic. _Finally_!" Uraraka cheered.

Deku and Todoroki didn't take it that far. On the other hand, they looked decidedly awkward around each other, Deku did, at least. Every move Todoroki made, Deku flinched. Yaoyorozu was right. _Boys_.

Stretching in her seat, Uraraka suppressed another yawn. "Aaaah, the food was delicious! Does anyone want anything more or can I get the leftovers?"

Deku smiled, awkward. "All yours."

Uraraka grinned, delighted.

* * *

Manual instructed them into a warm-up not too long after breakfast, seemingly under delusion that the UA physical workout curriculum consisted of light exercise. Iida informing him otherwise had ended up being quite a shocker for the pro, and Yaoyorozu couldn't exactly blame him, plus ultra being the school motto and all.

Patrols that followed were rather tame, compared to what had happened before. They'd run into a pair of kids who'd gotten hurt while trying to climb a tree in the park, but not much else. Everyone was a little surprised to see Momo deal with the dislocated shoulder like a pro. It was embarrassing.

"I volunteered with the Red Cross in middle school," she explained, "but forget that. We're all hero course students. You should all know first aid too."

Iida agreed, but he was the only one. Midoriya looked like someone slapped him. At this point, there was little that could surprise Momo, really.

In the end, final assessment concluded that five students and a pro hero patrolling around Hosu was simply too much. After lunch, decision was to split up again, regroup later in the evening and have a questions and answers session where anyone could ask Manual and everyone else at the agency what they wanted. Midoriya, Momo was sure, had prepared questions long before. She was only glad the group split up in a way that, this time, she, Iida and Todoroki accompanied Manual.

Right before they'd all split up, Yaoyorozu wished Uraraka good luck. Most likely, they'd needed.

Little did she know, by the time the evening rolled around, they all would.

* * *

Ria stopped by a car to fix her hair under the fedora she'd snatched from Reborn. Fiery red bob-cut wasn't something she would've volunteered for, but it gave her that edge her own face and hair could never do. She would forever look like a cutesy high schooler, so she appreciated that she could at least look like a no-nonsense badass in badass leather jacket when borrowing mannequins.

Siren wasn't as appreciative. Lingering a few steps back, he looked torn between forcefully dragging her away from her improvised mirror or just leaving her there. "Are you done yet?"

"Almost. You wouldn't happen to have lipstick with you, would you?"

"What the hell do you take me for?"

Ria winked. "My lackey."

Siren, predictably, exploded. "That is it, I'm done. I don't even know why I'm here. _You_ made a deal with Reborn, _you_ put yourself into this mess and dragged me with you, and you're not even going to fucking help me get my friends out. Fuck you, I'm out. I'm doing it myself!"

He said that, but he didn't move a step from where he was watching over Ria's back from any Villain who might look at her the wrong way in this dark alley, and simultaneously fighting the urge to strangle her. He was really obvious that way. It was almost funny.

Ria straightened, focusing her full attention on Siren. "We are _not_ breaking Kim out of prison, you need to stop asking."

" _WHY?_ "

Ria just gave him a look.

"The stupid ring, I _know_. But I don't get you, you're practically _useless_. We fought for that ring, we bled for it and you just say _no_?" Ah, there, the core of the issue. The topic they'd both been struggling to avoid for better part of the last few days. Now it was exploding out in a fit of righteous anger and betrayal. It was bound to come up eventually, but Ria still thought bringing up her lack of ability was a low blow. She never asked for this.

She swallowed down a retort that would've sent her into a tearful argument and focused on what really mattered.

"Vongola family survived the past two hundred years without that ring," she said through gritted teeth. "Right now, that ring is tearing us apart. My parents _died_ because of it. Do you really think I want it anywhere near me?"

Siren had nothing to say that. Good, because she'd almost started crying again. To prevent that, she took off Reborn's fedora and dumped it on top of Siren's head.

"It's not like I don't want Kim and the others free, too," she offered, gently. "Agent Thyme will do everything to get them out. If we interfere, we'll just make it harder for her. So, let her worry about that, okay?"

Siren glared at her. "She didn't approve of this, you know? She'll castrate them."

"I guessed." Ria smiled, and indicated at him to follow her. Sulkily, he did. Map pointed out they still had a little to walk, but their destination towered over its surroundings even in the dusk. High, dark and sticking out in the skyline, the offices of the second ranked hero had to be impressive, after all.

Siren watched the building with trepidation and just a twinge of excitement. Then he caught himself, and went back to sulking over everything. "You're crazy," he said. "You are certifiably insane, and Reborn is still a fucking traitor. Why would you trust him?"

It was feeling more and more like Siren was just looking for things to be angry about. Expert on that herself, Ria could hardly blame him.

"I don't," she said. At his look, she elaborated, "At least, not the way you think. I don't trust Reborn the assassin. But I trust in his values. Does that make sense?"

" _No_."

"I think Reborn is trustworthy precisely because he betrayed the family," she stated, completely aware of just how convoluted that might sound. "He went on to finish what Decimo started. You know what that tells me? That tells me he's loyal. To the person? To the idea? Hell if I know. But right now, he's loyal to Izuku Midoriya. As long as Izuku is involved, so is Reborn. And I _need_ Reborn's help, which means I need them both."

Siren was looking a whole lot more upset by every other word she said. "That's not gonna work. You can't just play games like that with the world's greatest assassin, it doesn't work that way. Ideas like that get you killed."

"It's worked out so far," Ria said lightly. "Whether Reborn knows or cares doesn't really matter, as long as he participates. That said, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I involved Izuku in this without giving him a way to defend himself. Do you understand now?"

Siren cursed into his chin, and flipped her a bird.

Well, as long as he understood.

They came to a stop in front of Endeavor's hero office, eyeing the skyscraper with intent. This was never meant to be their task, but Ria understood why Reborn had switched missions at the last moment. Siren's Quirk was much more suited to this kind of work, after all.

She swiped the stolen cop's phone, then showed him the picture of their objective. A piece of old furniture, part of a similar set that donned her office at home. Vongola crest gleamed underneath the handle of the middle drawer.

Siren scowled. "We can't get that thing out without _somebody_ noticing."

"We can't," Ria agreed. "But you'll have to."

"You're _terrible_."

"Consider that as me offering you a chance to apologize to Izuku and UA for what you did to their festival. And to all those innocent people you dragged into it. You said you'd take one for the team, didn't you? Own it, then. Finish this and maybe I can forgive you."

"I _hate_ you," Siren declared.

Unbothered, Ria dialed Reborn. Once the ringing stopped, she said, "Ready on our side. Did you find Mole?"

"Yep. Led us straight to La Brava. Yuni's got it covered. I believe they'll cooperate while we're still friendly."

"Just drop Siren's name if they don't," Ria hummed. "If there's anyone who can override Bruno's coding, it's her. We confirmed Bruno's laptop is missing from the police custody, too. Safe to say, whoever took him has his laptop."

"Yeah, we figured as well. I'll look into it."

"Thanks," Ria said. "Do what you gotta do. We got the drawers covered."

"I will."

The call ended with a click. Ria glanced at the phone, uncertain for a moment, then pulled the sim card out and snapped it in half, keeping one of the halves. The rest of the phone she tossed into the nearest dumpster. If they ever came looking, at least she hadn't deleted the family photos.

A woman opened the door of the skyscraper for Ria and Siren, accompanying them inside with a slightly glazed look in her eyes. She walked to the receptionist and whispered in his ear, before returning to her position.

By the time they got to the elevator, the receptionist had offered them two more assistants, one of them no doubt a hero, or a sidekick at best. All of them were similarly lost in a haze, yet appearing completely normal. Throughout the whole thing, Siren said nothing.

Ria swallowed thickly, as the floor numbers changed on the screen. Two men stood unnaturally still, not so much looking anywhere other than straight ahead. "How much do they remember, afterwards?" she asked, a strangled whisper.

"Not enough," Siren said.

Then the elevator stopped, and the door opened with a ding. Siren folded his sleeves. Ria gently pressed her lips to the hero's cheek and her previous body hit the floor. Flexing the unfamiliar muscles, she sighed. Burly, tough and a Quirk that wasn't too difficult to control. Ria nodded to herself. _This guy will have to do. I'm sorry._

Foreign words rolled off the unadjusted tongue, "Let's do this."

* * *

Elsewhere, Shigaraki Tomura met Hero Killer Stain.

Shigaraki Tomura disagreed with Stain.

Shigaraki Tomura challenged Stain.

By morning, Hosu would never be the same.

* * *

A/N: So many characters, so many things going on, so these last few chapters I decided to hit the brakes, kind of. Before things go off the crazy rails. And they will. Boy, they will.

The plus side, we get more character interactions which I feel this fic is missing SO MUCH. 1-A bonding WHERE? Coming, I _promise_. Todoroki and Iida get their turn first. Yaoyorozu's is... more overarching. The minus, Bakugou is meant to be MC too, but the story can't seem to just get to it. Original plan would've had him neck deep in this mess from like chapter 3, but as it is, he's only stuck up to his ankles. I'M SORRY, KACCHAN. But also, be happy. Once you're in, all you're gonna want is to get out.


End file.
